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Old fart, that is surely to be gone anyday now, but, ive read some fragments of his works, and im really starting to like him (like Weber)... i think hes very precise and cuts thru the bullshit:

...I think that the essential characteristics of the period between 1945 and 1990 can be summarized in four affirmations:

1)USA was the hegemonical power in a unipolar world system. Its power, based in the overwhelming advantage of economic productivity in 1945 and in a system of alliances with occidental Europe and Japan, arrived to its maximum at around 1967-1973

2)USA and the URSS maintained an extremely  structured conflict, carefully contained, formal (but not substantial), in which the URSS acted as a subimperialist agent of USA.

3) The third world imposed to the lack of attention of the USA, the URSS and occidental Europe by reclaiming fuller rights, before the countries in the North anticipated or wanted. Its political power just as its weakness was based on the belief and optimism about the conjunct objectives of auto-determination (anti-colonialism) and national development.

4) The decades of the 70s and 80s were a period of economical swamping, resistance of the USA to its decline and the disillusion of the third world in its own strategy.

The very important situation that opens itself upon us as we enter the first half of the XXI century (when the capitalist world economy will be in total and agitated crisis) is if there will be new movements, with new projects of strategy and programs. It is very possible, but its far from being sure. The reason is that nobody has proposed strategies and programs of action to replace the deceased leninist-wilsonist strategies for the third world, which in themselves were not a thing other than the extensions of the strategy of the XIX century to take the state power, employed bye both the socialists and the nationalists.

I mean, he spells doom in right about the ways that is happening now (i will add more parts of the text within the next days), 15 years later, i think it would be worth it to see his more recent works.

The first time i visited a library out of my own free will was at 11, among the things i looked for where psychiatric manuals (Im assuming it was the DSM-IV), and it seemed so weird to me, like some kind of alchemical book of the mind, A+B=X (behaviour A and behaviour B, equal disorder X) i didnt make much of it, but it just felt weird, speaking of humans and the mind as if it were a zero-sum phenomenon, so to speak.

Over the years that ive read and commented with people about psycho-analytic books and theories ive heard criticisms ranging from calling it a cult, that its a pansexualist reductionism, that its a fraud, that it is anti-scientific and that its threading quilts out of air.

Im decently read and "hip" to it, but i also am not even close to having read all the works of say Klein, Freud, Fromm and the likes of them, but all the nay-sayers that have actually stopped to have a real conversation about it end up acknowledging their criticisms were ideological.

So P.D. i ask of you, can you help me poke holes in psycho-analysis?

http://mexico.cnn.com/mundo/2010/10/01/eu-pide-perdon-a-guatemala-por-contagio-de-enfermedades-sexuales

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Estados Unidos ofreció disculpas este viernes por un estudio de investigación realizado entre 1946 a 1948, en el que deliberadamente infectó de sífilis a varios guatemaltecos como parte de un experimento.

En una declaración emitida por las secretarias de Estado, Hillary Clinton, y Salud y Servicios Humanos, Kathleen Sebelius, dijeron que la acción ha sido "reprobable".

EU realizó la investigación con la intención de buscar vacunas contra enfermedades venéreas.

"Lamentamos profundamente que esto haya sucedido y pedimos perdón a todas las personas que se vieron afectados por esas prácticas abominables de investigación", expresa la declaración conjunta.

"El comportamiento exhibido durante el estudio no representa los valores de Estados Unidos o nuestro compromiso con la dignidad humana y un gran respeto por el pueblo de Guatemala".

Las autoridades guatemaltecas tienen conocimiento del informe, pero no harán comentarios al respecto hasta más tarde este viernes, señaló el vocero presidencial, Ronaldo Robles, a CNN.

La investigación fue titulada Estudio del Servicio de Salud Pública de EU sobre Inoculación de Enfermedades de Transmisión Sexual 1946-1948. Recibió el respaldo de la entonces Organización Panamericana de la Salud y del gobierno de Guatemala.

"El estudio es un triste recordatorio de que las garantías adecuadas para la investigación en seres humanos no existían hace medio siglo", menciona la declaración. "En la actualidad, los reglamentos que gobiernan la investigación médica en seres humanos financiada por Estados Unidos prohíben este tipo de violaciones atroces".

Clinton y Sebelius aseguran que Estados Unidos puso en marcha una investigación sobre los detalles de este caso de 1946. Y también convocaron a un grupo de expertos internacionales para examinar e informar sobre los métodos más eficaces para asegurarse de que todas las investigaciones con seres humanos en todo el mundo médico cumplen rigurosas normas éticas.

"A medida que avanzamos para comprender mejor este atroz suceso, reiteramos la importancia de nuestra relación con Guatemala y nuestro respeto por el pueblo guatemalteco, así como nuestro compromiso con las normas éticas más exigentes en la investigación médica", agregaron.

Detalles del experimento

El Servicio de Salud Pública de Estados Unidos en la administración de Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) lideró la investigación que tenía como objetivo ver el desarrollo de las enfermedades en periodos prolongados de tiempo, sin ofrecer tratamiento alguno a los infectados.

Las prácticas han salido a la luz gracias a un estudio de la investigadora de la Universidad de Wellesley, Susan Reverby, quien afirma que infectaron a 696 personas, muchas de ellas pacientes internados en instituciones para enfermos mentales.

De acuerdo con el estudio de Reverby, los experimentos trataban de determinar si la penicilina podía prevenir, y no sólo curar, una infección de sífilis.

Los sujetos fueron contagiados en visitas de prostitutas que tenían la enfermedad e inoculación directa, y a muchos de ellos se les alentó a que propagaran los padecimientos a otras personas, de acuerdo con la investigadora, que no pudo determinar si los pacientes fueron curados o tratados más adelante.

Nick Valenciana contribuyó con este despacho.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — USA offered apologies this friday for experiments made from 1946-48 in which subjects were deliberatly infected with syphilis...

Russian guys makes knives made of sapphire.

These knives can be easily taken inside the airplane in your handbag, for example if you care about your right to use your knife anywhere you want.

These knives cannot be discovered by any sort of metal-detector, they have none metal parts at all.

Their blades are being made from artificial sapphire, the same material that is being used to make non-scratchable watches by leading Swiss brands. Handles are made of the bone.

Only diamonds exceed it in the hardness, so anybody can easily make his name carved on the airplanes bull's-eye airplane window. It scratches glass without any difficulty and can be sharpened only with special diamond whetstone.

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2007/01/18/sapphire-knife/

What is this?

SPEDUP VERSIONS OF ONE-HIT WONDERS OR CLASSICS

Why is this?

BECAUSE!


...for starters a 90´s classic, share your favorite!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8TbMoi5MKg&feature=related

.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241304/Playboy-model-Paula-Sladewskis-burned-body-dumped-bin-Miami.html

The charred remains of an aspiring Playboy model have been discovered in a Miami rubbish bin.

Paula Sladewski, 26, was so badly burned that police had to use dental records to identify her.

http://www.inquisitr.com/49181/charles-manson-son/

A Los Angeles DJ got a bit of a family tree shock after finally discovering the identity of the man who impregnated his mother- serial killer Charles Manson...

[Introduction]

Introduction

   The gender role of women in Mexico is not an absolute, static or ahistorical, it is a psycho-social construction. But, how to know what is the gender role of the Mexican woman? And also, what has affected it throughout the years? Maybe the answer can be found thru derivation of historical facts, cultural practices and analysis of mythological figures

Historical Context

Aztec Empire

   Within aztec society, it was expected of the woman to be a virgin until marriage, to be submissive, abnegated, reserved and to accept the reproaches of her husband; despite this, she could enter contractual relations, inherit and possess property, and to ask for justice when it was necessary.1
   Their social stratification was "based in prestige... that was achieved mostly through warrior feats or thru commerce"2 At birth, the umbilical cords of males were buried in a battle field, to symbolize their future role as warriors, while the ones of females was buried near the home, to symbolize their domestic centered future; the day of their name assignation, males were given a small bow, four arrows and a shield, while the females were given objects to sew, a huipil (blouse) and naguas (skirt)3

Colony

   During the colonial period this changed, because, aztec women were used by the conquistadores as a médium to bear children and use them not just as labor slaves, but sexual too.4 The Inquisition institutions in Mexico existed from 1522 until 1819, during said years there was a monastic inquisition that focused on evangelization and battling idolatry (1522-1533), that later on gave place to an Episcopal inquisition from 1535 until 1571, when the Spanish Crown decreed natives out of its jurisdiction, and that the bishop only had power over matters of morality and faith. Basicly his power was restricted to 20% of the population by 1571: Spaniards, Europeans, mestizos, Africans, mulattos and Asians, which constituted about 450,000 persons.The treatment of women by this institution "generally benefited women with indulgence from the judges, for it is not acceptable to treat these irresponsible minors that, barely conscious, with the same rigour as men, which are the only complete human beings"

Bigamy was common in these times, adventurous spaniards that arrived to the New Spain for riches, usually left behind their families to, in theory, send for them once they were established, although, in many of the cases, they remarried.

There were special cases of women, which were "blessed" or sorceresses. "Blessed" ones like Teresa Romera, Antonia de Ochoa and Juana de los Reyes did acts such as spitting blood from their mouths, had visitations by Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and Thomas Aquinas, manifested sores, suffered catatonic states due to being possessed by some evil spirit, making fastings, using sackcloths and constant penitence (which translated into credit, "wills" and donations by the community); what they had in common too was being criollas, with an economically unstable situation. Sorceresses usually lived in the countryside, widows and being women of caste, constantly prescribing diverse substances, ignoring, but not opposing religion, having a constant interaction with women that asked for their services.

The Spaniard women that arrived to Mexico could choose to be nuns (but there were aristocratic and racial requisites, such as having Christian ancestry while not having Jewish), but not on an ascetic manner, more like with servants; meanwhile, Spaniards born in mexico, native royalty, mestizos and free blacks had to conform themselves of becoming "sisters" to do all the work.

Independence

After the Independence, women could study in secular schools, but in regards to them, the Feminist Congress that took place in Yucatan in 1916 said "They lived, made tortillas, and died". During Juarez's Reforma, the goods and properties of the Church were nationalized, nunneries were abolished and there was given the opportunity for mayor education and jobs for women. After the conservative intervention that saw Maximilian in power, with Porfirio Diaz there was a slow but constant increase of educated women. Between 1888 and 1904, the first women graduated from medicine, law and commerce.

Unmarried women had the same rights as men (except vote), while the married ones would fall within the law under the category of "imbecilitas sexus", which reduced their rights to those of children; but women of lower classes basicly had the coice of being servants or prostitutes.

Revolution

During the Revolution, women took over farms, businesses and families, aswell as participated in the conflicto as soldiers, rear guard, and as spies. Carranzistas took power and wrote "Althought the fact that some exceptional women possess the necessary qualifications to exersice satisfactorily their political rights, it does not derive in the conclusion that those should be given to all women as a class"

XX Century

Until 1922 was when vote was granted to women, in Yucatán; in 1923, four women were elected as deputies. 1924, Elvira Carrillo Puerto was elected for the Chamber of Deputies, but her credentials were not recognized. 1932, equality of rights such as entering contracts, to hold federal and state office, have jobs and be able to sell properties. 1953, Ruiz Cortines follows thru with a proposition made by president Cardenas that explicitly declared the right of voting to all women in all elections of the country and the ability to take charge of any office.

Aztec and Christian Mythology: Important Female Figures

Lilith

"Ever since the days of Eden, apples have been man´s desire. How overjoyed I am to think, sir, apples grow, too, in my garden". –The Beautiful Witch

   Condemned within the context of ancient Babylon, Hebrew tablets, the kabbalah and hermetism (although not within modern luciferianismo), for the act of being a woman that demands equality, that doesn't submit to male pressure "Why should I lay below you? For I was made out of dust too, therefore, I am your equal" Adam insisted, which provoked Lilith to abandon him, God sent three angels after her to make her come back – she refuses to return, and God puts a curse upon her, that a hundred of his children shall day every day, to which she promises to kill any infant before circumcision at the third day for males, and before the twentieth for females. Because of her insubordination and contrarieties to typical characteristics within marianism, she is characterized as a demon, and because of this she isn't venerated.

Virgin Mary

   The mother of God son, the wife of the Holy Spirit, daughter of Joachim and Saint Anne, the veneration of Mary officially started at the council of 431 A.D. where among other things, consensus was reached about her virginity and assumption, and was given the title "Theotokos" (Mother of God). Contrasting with mythological figures such as Iokasté, Elektra, Antigone, Cassandra and Clitemnestra, she summed up in her being pious maternity, grace and purity. When the angel Gabriel visited her, she responded "Here is the slave of the Lord, may his word be accomplished in me". Here is the figure from where "marianism" is derived, a passive women beside a masculine figure, and that derives her grace and divinity only thru the act of giving birth.

Coatlicue

   Coatlicue (the one with the serpent skirt) is the Earth goddess, along with Ometecuhtli, forming the primordial couple Ometeotl, and at the same time she represents Teteo Innan (Mother of the Gods), Tonatzin (Our Venerated Mother) and Toci (Our Grandmother); among other names of her were Omecihuatl (Lady Two), Tonacacihuatl (Our Sustain), Citlalcueitl (star skirt) and Mictecacihuatl (Lady of Mictlán). One day, after finding a ball of feathers, she took it, and turned out pregnant by it, which enraged her sons, the Centzon Huitznahuac and her daughter Coyolxauhqui, which desired to kill her. Coatlicue fleed to the mountain Coatepec, where just before being caught by her sons, gave birth to Huitzilopochtli, which was born in adult form and fully armed, and defeated his brothers.

Our Lady of:  Izamal, San Juan, Zapopan y de la Salud

   Besides the minutia details of their particular origins, what they have in common are the attributions of them of curing and protecting such as: protecting load lifters that were transladating them from one place to another, curing crippled children, blacks, indigenous people and mulattos; saving sailors attacked by pirates; resurrecting children, youth and animals; curing the blind and stopping epidemics.

Virgin Mary of Guadalupe

   Mary of Guadalupe, symbol of mestizo identity, maternal figure for a land of orphans, piety and national unity; a translation of the Virgin Mary for the New Spain context. She appeared upon Juan Diego between the 9 and 12th of December of 1531, in which during she convinced the population of Tlatelolco that they should build a temple in her name. She was war standard for fights such as the indigenous rebellion against slavists; in 1810 she was the standard for Miguel Hidalgo and the Independence and finally in 1910s Revolution, she was standard of the Zapatistas during their march over the capitol.

Analysis

   The aztec myth of the creation of humans, mentions that Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtly, the man they named Oxomaco, which would dedicate itself to work the land, and the woman they named Cactonal, which would dedicate itself to knitting and sewing, healing, foreseeing the future and sorcery. The most prestigious place was the Paradise of the Sun, to which only warriors killed in combat, those that were sacrificed and women that died during child delivery had access. There was the belief, that if a person ate a tamal, that while cooking got stuck in the bottom of the casserole, for men, they would have bad aim in war, and for women, they would not bear children properly. All of these beliefs hightlight the sexual role division; men should do the physical work and be warriors, while the women should focus on children and the home; the problems that come from eating a tamal stuck in the bottom of the casserole, manifest what was most important for each gender and wished to avoid.
   
       There is continuity in the treatment of women in the Aztec Empire up to the post-colonial period, because, due to machismo present in the prehispanic culture; the cult of virility. Aswell, machismo has its counterpart, hembrismo; the man as strong, conqueror, dominant; the woman as dependent, conformist, with no imagination and shy.
   Within machismo, a man proves his virility by having sexual conquests, and the material evidence of these conquests are children, which implies impregnating multiple women, holding a pattern of infidelities, which inevitably leads to an abscense of the father in all the spectrum of possible manners; while the woman is more "noble" by, despite suffering with her situation, not leaving her husband and raising the children herself. "Middle class in general, sees feminine parasitism as a virtue: the most beautiful adornment of the home, of his husband, it's the wife, a living testimony of his manhood, money and power"

It's an interesting manifestation, colonial bigamy, for it's a respect for the catholic ritual, but at the same time, but ignoring its restrictions completely. Possibly something that influenced until actuality is the "disphasement of appearances, the offered and kept image and the reality that things it hides"
The situation of the beatificated women and the sorceress, was with the intent of exerting influence over important people with power, such as high class women or males "its about sexual and social revenge, such effects shouldn't be underestimated", them being women in the first place, and also without privileges, it was their only way to excel. Other way for prestige was becoming a nun, but taking care of not dealing with theological issues, or any intellectual matter, for that brings on trouble, such as those faced by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

   A study realized between 1966 and 1967, of 2457 men and 2953 women in the Federal District and other 14 states, showed results that the number of children born to a Mexican couple throughout 20 years of marriage, are in average 6.9. And this great number of children, relegates the woman to have to focus on child birth and rearing, due to the cultural tendency for the father's abscense within the family system. Also, a survey of 2500 couples, realized between 1966 and 1968, showed that only 11.5% knew, accepted and used contraceptive methods that were not approved by the Church.

   A characteristic of the Mexican family is "an absentee father that appears eventually and an abnegated and passive mother"; this absence of the father difficults the psycho-social development, due to, there not being a castrating agent that brings forth the incest prohibition and helps them cross the Oedipus complex, the son, instead of having value on its own, has to live being merely the phallus of the mother, which is gratifying for the mother, but its in detriment to the differentiation and autonomy of the children.

   "The prescence of goddesses or protective virgins, was the only possible way to uphold hope that could lessen their orphan quality" Also, readapting a judeo-christian god, with a Mesoamerican god such as Huitzilopochtli was something difficult if not impossible; on the other hand, Coatlicue, despite having some non-concordant aspects with the Virgin Mary, was able to be adapted in a local manifestation such as the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, due to racial factors (skin tone), aesthetical associations (the star skirt converted into a mantle), gender role (maternality of a divine being) and due to historical idiosincracies (such as the suffering brought upon by the colonization, which created the necessity of a more benevolent transformation of the goddess).
   

Conclusion

The spanish colonization arrived in a violent manner over Aztec society, and brought upon many changes in the matter of culture and social organization. Spanish society was theocratic like the Aztecs –but probably less-; Aztec society and religion shared with the catholic religion its ideas about the gender role of women, which was reduced to the home and child bearing, and therefore was not the cause behind the change. I think that more influence was exerted by the abuse and violence done by the conquistadores over the indigenous women, that accentuated machismo and hembrismo, which were already present before its arrival, by making slaves out of them and having no restrictions on the power over them.

Bibliography

"Numeri Rabba", 1194(¿),
Alberro, Solange "Inquisición y Sociedad en México 1571-1700", 1993, FCE, Mèxico
Calderon, Frances "Life in México" 1943, Aldine, Lóndres
Chiñas, Beverly "The Isthmus Zapotecs", 1973, Holt, New York
Elu de Leñero, María "¿Hacia donde va la mujer Mexicana?", 1969, IMES, México
Elu de Leñero, María "Mujeres que hablan", 1971, IMES, México.
Encuentro de Mujeres "La Mujer en México", 1972, Punto Crítico
Fernández, Lidia "El padre: Los modos de una ausencia", 2000, UAM, México,
Goethe, Johann "Fausto", 1808
Hellbom, Anna "La Participación Cultural de las Mujeres", 1967, Stockholm
Hernandez, Susana "Unas características de la mujer Mexicana de clase media",1971
Lavrin, Asuncion "Values and Meaning of Monastic Life for Nuns in Colonial Mexico", 1972
Leñero, Luis "Investigación de la familia en México", 1971, México
Macias, Anna "Mexican Women in the Social Revolution", 1971
Mendieta, Maria "Margarita de la Maza de Juarez", 1972, México
Robles, Martha "Mujeres, Mitos y Diosas", 2000, FCE, México,
Rosado, Juan José "La religión azteca", 2008, Trotta, Madrid
Santiago, Ramírez "El mexicano, psicología de sus motivaciones", 1977, Grijalbo, México
Stevens, Evelyn "The Prospects for a Women's Liberation Movement in Latin America", 1973
Zollinger, Janet "Women Roles and Status in Eight Countries", John Wiley, New York

It is blocking me from accessing virus scanners and the Micro$oft website and im not sure if it has to do with my comp not having audio currently, although my hard drive recently broke down and im using a new one.

EDIT: Seems SS&D does not scan for viruses, time to test AV Eagle.

Guys, from my foreing POV it seems Oregon-Portland has a lot of things going on, and i dont mean just the references to it that you all make, seems to me i see it mentioned in the news, that some really old aquaintances from 10 years ago and news i run into seem to emanate/go to portland. I know im not making a detailed or huge case for it, but its because i dont seem to know how to express it and i dont think i could pinpoint specific examples because i havent been keeping track of them.

What is it about that city? Or is it just my personal coincidences? Or is it just that its one of the bigger cities of the USA? (done no research about it yet)

This is some musings ive had for the last month, i wrote this in a sleepless night, but not carelessly, i would appreciate all of your inputs, i think i should be rewriting this in the near future


Anxiety, a feeling invoked by uncertainty of a future event, but uncertainty means lack of determination, and lack of determination means choice. Of course, on a micro level, for there is a lot of situations where we have no influence or choice.

Devereux within the framework of his etnographic open/deep interviews theory, states that the transference and coutertransference that happens in that context, can provoke anxiety on the interviewee and the interviewer -- mostly to the interviewer, perhaps its the source itself of the common use of closed questionaire type interviews --. Anxiety can increase by secondary factors, such as noise pollution in the setting, excessive proximity, lack of comfort in posture/setting, etc. But it can also and does come out from the revealing of information, specially when the emphasis of the interview can shift dynamically to issues that are important and intimate.

Coming back from that tangent, anxiety comes up, when theres an unceirtanty of a future event that is subjectively important. Things that involve self preservation and needs are the ones that cause the most anxiety: physical danger, jobs, school, friendship, love.

Life itself is dynamic, fluctuating and unstable, wheter we like it or not. But it seems its a hard thing to acknowledge and accept, thus the reason of the pursuit of stability and the status quo.

We run from the anxiety of uncertainty all of our lives: a stable job, a monogamous foreverlasting relationship, the same city, the same habits, a TV and a house.

But are we deceiving ourselves? Should we tirelessly run from anxiety or embrace it?

The dynamism of everything is not a one way street to the negative, it can also foster positive change. Excessive stagnation leads to inadaptability and anachronisms that will prove to be negative.

Strife and discord both provoke anxiety, for they break the stability of a system, but this unstabilization of the status quo can mean appropiation and betterment.

Shunning everything that provokes anxiety, is also shunning the possibility of positive change.

[Introduction - Mythological Genealogy]

Introduction - Mythological Genealogy

Making an overview of Hesiods "Theogony", everything came to existence thru Chaos, which had 4 offsprings: Gea, Eros, Erebus and Nyx.

Gea birthed the Titans (which later on birthed the Olympians): Olympus, Tartarus, Uranus, Oreos, Pontos

Eros had no offsprings.

Nyx gave birth to: Moros, Ker, Thanatos, the Hesperides, Hipnos, the Moireae, Sleep, the Keres, Momo, Ezis, Nemesis, Apathe, Filotas, Gera and Eris.

Nyx had offspring with Erebus: Ether and Hemero.

Now that we have a general perspective, we can focus on the myths that involve Eris: the battle of Typhon agaisnt Zeus and the Judgement of Paris.

The battle of Typhon and Zeus

When Zeus defeated all of the Titans, Gea and Tartarus bore Typhon (and Echidna), and summoned him to defeat Zeus, for Gea did not wish her Titan offsprings to live in imprisonment; Zeus, with his newly gained power, was not eager to let go of it, thus, battled Typhon.

Typhon was escorted by Eris to battle while Zeus was by Nike; Typhon initially overpowered Zeus, but the struggle turned in favor of Zeus at the use of his thunderbolts, and finally imprisoned Typhon alongside the majority of the Titans, under Tartarus.

I think it is important to hold off the analysis until both myths have been exposed.

The Judgement of Paris

The "judgement of Paris" is but a part of a bigger event, which was the wedding of Tethys and Peleus.

Having the Olympians banished the majority of the Titans to Tartarus, they shared the power and control over everything within the Universe (except the primal deities); now the only obstacle to keeping their power as status quo, was the fact that the offspring of Tethys was phropecized to be "stronger than his father". Zeus and Poseidon (Leader and 2nd in command), really wished to "posess" Tethys, but decided that neither one of them should have her and should marry a mortal, so there would be no threats to the Olympian hegemony. That mortal was Peleus.

The wedding of Tethys and Peleus was an arraigned marriage, of which Tethys was unhappy about, but had no say in the matter. All the gods were invited, except Eris, the matron goddess of strife and discord, so she wouldnt summon the discontent of Tethys.

Eris, being uninvited to the party, decided that if at least she was not gonna be present to give the bride her best wishes, she should at least drop off a gift, and so she did. "For the most beautiful/fairest one", an apple made of pure gold.

But Tethys never received her gift from Eris, because the 3 most "important" goddesses (Hera, Aphrodite, Athena) decided that, if theres is anyone that is "beautiful/fair", it was them.

Paris was summoned to decide, for him being the least corrupt of the humans, who was the one deserving of said apple. And lo and behold, he was offered kingdoms, military skill, but he chose the most beautiful woman on the planet.

And thus was the first war amogst men.

Analysis

Making a quick analysis of this; Zeus is the personification of a ruler that has overthrown the previous ruler, his own father Cronos, which in turn had overthrown his own father, Uranus.

In order to break the cycle of violent wars and overthrown rulers, his method was consensus:

-After the Titan-Olympian war, he split the dominion in three parts with his most powerful brothers and himself: Earth, Ocean and Underworld (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades respectively).

-He married off Tethys to a mortal.

His victory over Typhon was symbolically, the triumph of humanity over nature; the children of Gea and Uranus prevailed, while the children of Gea with Tartarus, such as Typhon and Echidna were respectively banished to Tartarus, or the lesser ones that didnt pose a real threat to his rule as mere challenges for the human heroes. Thus order was established, and as it had no challenge, grew unchecked.

The final nail to the coffin of disorder/change was the marriage of Tethys (being an earlier goddess that got integrated into Greek mythology). But although it managed to keep order amongst the Gods, it only provoked disorder among mortals. Thanks Zeus!

MELBOURNE, Australia – A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs. The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_kangaroo_attack;_ylt=An6TxIvKrsJz36oXHo9u0r3tiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0aHV0bzJsBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMTI0L2FzX2F1c3RyYWxpYV9rYW5nYXJvb19hdHRhY2sEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg--

73

Yes, but who will cure us of the deaf fire, of the colorless fire that runs thru the dusk of the rue of Huchette, going out thru the rotten doorways, of the decayed exteriors, of the imageless fire that licks stones and stalks in the doorsteps, how can we wash ourselves of its sweet burn that continues, that sets on to last on, allied to time and memory, of sticky substances that keeps us on this side, and that will burn us away till we get calcinated.

Then it is best to make a pact like cats and moss, to inmediately make friends with the gatekeepers of husky voices, with the pale and suffering creatures that lurk the windows, playing with a dry branch. Burning without truce, bearing the central scorch that advances like the paulatine maturity in fruit, be the pulse of a bonfire, in this tangle of unending stone, to walk the nights of our lives with obedience in the blood in its blind circuit.

So many times i ask myself if this isnt anything more than literature, in a time in which we run into deceit between infalible equations and machines of conformisms. But to ask if we will find the other side of tradition or if its beter to go with the flow of its joyful cybernetic ¿isnt this literature again? Rebellion, conformism, angst, earthly food, all the dichotomies: Yin and Yang, contemplation or Tagikeit, rolled oats or partridges faisandées, Lascaux or Mathieu, what a hammock of words, what pocket dialectic with piyama storms and cataclisms of living room. The sole act of interrogating about the posible choice corrupts and murks that which is choosable.

Yes, no, that if if its here in this one... It would seem that a choice cannot be dialectic, that its setup cheapens it, i mean, distorts, i mean, transforms it into something else. Between Yin and Yang ¿how many aeons? Between yes and no ¿how many perhaps? Everything is literature, i mean, fable. ¿But whats the use of truth that reassures the honest owner? Our possible truth has to be invention, i mean literature, writing, painting, sculpture, agriculture, pisciculture, all the tures in this world. Values, tures, sanctity, one ture, society, one ture, love, pure ture, beauty, ture of tures. In one of its books, Morelli speaks of the neapolitan that spent years sitting at the doorstep of his house, watching a screw on the floor.

By night he picked it up and placed it under his mattress. The screw first was laughter, pulling of hair, communal irritation, neighbor meeting, sign of violation of civic duty, finally it was a shrug, peace, the screw was peace, nobody could pass by the street without watching the screw thru the corner of their eyes without feeling it was peace. This guy died of a syncope, and the screw dissapeared just as neighbors arrived. One of them keeps it, maybe pulls it out in secret and watches it, puts it away again and goes to the factory feeling something he does not understand a dark reprobation. He only feels calm when he pulls out the screw and watches it, he stares at it until he hears footsteps and hurriedly hides it again.

Morelli thought that the screw must be something else, a god or something like that. Too easy solution. Maybe the mistake was in accepting that said object was a screw because of the fact that it had the shape of a screw. Picasso takes a toy car and turns it into the chin of a baboon. Maybe the neopolitan was an idiot but also he could be the inventor of a world. From the screw to an eye, from an eye to a star... ¿Why deliver oneself to the Great Tradition? One can choose ture, invention, i mean the screw or the toy car.

This is how Paris destroys us slowly, deliciously, grinding us between old flowers and paper tablecloths with wine stains, with its colorless fire that runs at dusk coming out of the rotten doorways. An invented fire scorches us, an incandescent ture, a widget of race, a city that is the Great Screw, the horrible needle with its nocturne eye thru which runs the thread of the Sena, torture machine like tiptoes, agony in a cage crowded with enfuriated swallows. We burn in our work, fabulous mortal honor, great challenge of the phoenix.

Nobody will cure us of the deaf fire, the colorless fire that runs at dusk thru the rue of Huchette. Incurable, perfectly incurable, we choose for ture the Great Screw, we incline ourselves over it, we enter it, we reinvent it each day, at every wine stain in the tablecloth, at every kiss of moss in the dawn of the Coru of Rohan, we invent our fire, we burn from the inside out, maybe thats choice, maybe words wrap this as a napkin to bread and within it is the fragrance, the flour fluffing up, yes without no, no without yes, day without Manes, Ormuz or Arimán, once and for all and enough.

Edit: stupid spelling.

i think from so much time spent reading books, being on the internets, and spending most of my time in rooms that are 6 x 3 mts or 8 x 8 mts im actually going cross eyed a bit (anything beyond 8 meters away seems not so clear)...

What should i do, and does anyone have had this happen to them?

http://translate.google.com.mx/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eluniversal.com.mx%2Fnotas%2F639189.html&sl=es&tl=en&hl=es&ie=UTF-8

Because the President did a decree to dissolve LyFC (Electricity and power of the mid country) in this most important city of Mexico, we have the one and only inter-state highway blockaded, there have been shootouts between police and protesters, some other place protesters ran over some policemen, my school was shut down, and so was the UNAM (national autonomous university of mexico).

Besides the chaos of today, has some promise of extending itself longer.

... I IMPROVISEDLY SAVED MY SCHOOL WORK TEAM FROM OBLIVION

... I FOUND $5 WHILE WALKING

... I TRAVELLED 670 KILOMETERS IN 6 HOURS

... I HAD MY BANK ACCOUNT SPELLL $666

AHHHHHHHHHHH

Can i haz PDF version of these both?

I have the PD crappy only-text version that is incomplete.

And the BIP PDF link is dead.

This is because id rather print it out and read than read on screen.

Plx.

Im gonna show all these prudes this:



Dont you all think this will be wonderful?

This implies a lot of my subjective view of the issue.

Ive had dealings with the goth for about 11 years, since 1998. Obviously at different moments ive had different notions and depths about what i think its supposed to be or what i like about it.

Goths were a Germanic tribe that brought the downfall of Rome after being expelled from Eastern Europe by the Huns ... Gothic is a type of architecture (oglivie in spanish)... in literature theres Gothic Horror (or something like that)... Goth is a genre of music... Goth in pre-medieval and mediaval vocabulary meant "barbaric" and "barbaric" used to mean "those who do not live within a city".

So i thought to myself it was in some ways arrogant and in other ways badass that people took up the title of Goths... a depreciation of "civilization" (civilization as order; an excess of order)... and the symbolism of black is very powerful, nowadays i associate black with the unconscoius part of ourselves, and the unconscious part of ourselves is our irrational and "disorderly" part... (obviously theres these kids nowadays that interpret it more as death related)... then all these people, male and female alike all wearing makeup i interpreted it as them not being highly judgemental (at least on levels that one shouldnt be, like gee, how much of a gay basher can a guy that wears eyeliner be...)... dressing strangely has its quirks, such as acting as a visual filter, to keep away anyone that is too square to accept it, and dressing strangely also is a sort of freedom, to dress as one wishes and not letting social pressure to tell you otherwise...

So derived from all of this my idea of what "goth" should be as opposed to what it turns out to be generally: people that are interested in the humanities, that arent retarded enough to internalize dogmas such as gender role (which is just the tip of the iceberg and has millions of ramifications), and that they do what they like as much as they can get away with without taking into account social norm/taboo.

Unfortunately, there is a gigantic bridge between what my idea of how it should be, to what it really turns out to be. The Slipknotian/Mansonite/nu-metal "goths" that are attracted to the "darkness" and symbolize it as death that were abused by their family, or the whiner passive agressive cunts... or the female that is into goth because of only the clothes as a tool to get attention that she didnt get from her broken family father... or the proto-fascist antisocial asshole... or the Vamphyrezzz that want to suck your blood...

I havent self categorized myself as "goth" since 8 years ago, when i was 15... but if i go out to clubs, id rather go to the goth clubs to see if i run into some interesting person by rare coincidence or just enjoy watching all the swirl of odd-looking people.

[visually:]

I guess it's easy to stigmatize all these kids of the post-grunge era, these kids that were born, most likely in the 90's. But attempting to make sense of this visceral aversion to them...

Its important to notice what message they convey aesthetically...

visually: a skull here and there... lots of pink and purple... some black clothing... black nails... sweatshirts with built in hoodies... big vans shoes... tight pants... a piercing/tattoo here and there, but nothing too extreme... stars (and how!)...

musically: washed down rock, with nubile squeamish to angry voices (never forget the horror of screamo)... pseudo avant-garde artsy crap here and there... (ill leave you all to do your own research on lyrics)

So ok, what im getting to here is... their whole aesthetical expression is in a sense antisocial, but not enough to get them into too much of a big problem (lets call it a step beyond skater), but enough to express that they arent "Mainstream"...

That's an expression of discontent.

But this discontent with how things run in the world.... their opposition, their battle cry is REGRESSION

The world isnt going the way you like it? Fuck it, im gonna drown myself in retro videogames and whine.

Do you all think that the typical emo Myspace^TM picture, taken in a bathroom, with one hand holding the camera... right above their head is merely a random posture taht just stuck?

No, my interpretation is that they idealize themselves as children without care, with their avoidant pathologies... if an adult took a picture of a child, wouldnt it be a "from above" point of view, just as that typical pose they use?

How about all those retarded pictures with chicks wearing ballet tutus? Are all your men such faggots that you women have to resort to the most extreme expression of your gender role to think of yourselves as women ?

I hope you all drown in an ocean of plushies, stars and tears

You all disgust me.

Ok guys, i personally think that avoiding the TV as if it were a pox is one of the most healthy things one can do.

And i mean healthy in a physically and psychichally sense.

My hypothesis is that most people on this forum watch little to none.

*********************

NOTE: watching TV as in satellite and cable, but not as in watching DVDs or selected recordings.

NOTE 2: i guess actively watching TV compared to having it in the background is very much different. Anyhow lets not do that distinction on the voting, but do explain so in commentz.

The modern aesthetical ideal of "skinny", the reason behind it has been attributed to runway models and mass media; in a certain way this is true, but this is a superficial vision of causality, from some previous place this must have come from...

When a person appears in TV, they seem to have more weight than in a direct "real life" visual appreciation. Assuming this is true, we can derivate taht, thru the importance of mass media in the transmission of aesthetical ideals, and due to this visual effect, multiple people started to adapt their bodyweights (or this kinds of persons were chosen for this medium) to what this "look-good-in-TV" required. And this is what caused the change of the notion of beauty, of a healthy weight towards a low weight, which in circumstances not so rare, floats in the limits between eating disorders and obsessive compulsive behaviour.

"Reality exists in the human mind and in no other place. Not in the individual mind, that can make mistakes and, in all cases, perishes soon. Just the mind of the Party, that is collective and inmortal, can sense reality. What the Party says its true is effectively true."
-O'Brien

Equiparating subjectivity as the manifestation of desire itself and making an abstract polarization to possibly exemplify better:

Objectivity      Subjectivity
Order            Chaos
Rationality      Irrationality

One example of how rational our society is, can be approached thru a neurological example of brain function:

Left Hemisphere                Right Hemisphere

Analytic                             Holistic
Verbal                               Prosodic
Logic                                Intuitive
Exact Calculation                Aproximate calculation
Language:                         Language:
   -Grammar                          -Intonation /accentuation
   -Literality                          -Prosody
   -Vocabulary                       -pragmatic
                                          -Conceptual

Most people in the world (70%-95%) are right handed. It hasnt been determined why of this tendency in humans. There have been geneticistic and cultural attempts at an explanation but unsuccessfully; aswell different species of primates there isn't such polarization.

So, if there cant be a cultural or genetical explanation, maybe its possible for a neurological and ideological explanation. Maybe its not coincidence that so many people are right handed, maybe it's a symptom to how over-idealized are the qualities and ways of thinking due that they were the basic and necessary for survival in our origins. Maybe its putting to much of a fine point on it, but note that the qualities of the left hemisphere correspond to the characteristics of typical rational thought.

But this rationality, this over-idealization of the qualities of the left hemisphere of our brain are a limitation of the human spectre to satisfy all of its needs and desires. Capitalism and the fetichism of money seem to be nowadays the measure of "objectivity" and "truth", and its ok'ed by the groups in power due to, that the search of happiness thru materialism and consumism doesn't question the functionality of society. If a person feels sad, and accepts consumist doctrine thru the mass media, that he can be happy by purchasing a new cell phone that is in fashion and trendy, then he shall buy the cell phone; or maybe when hes sad he can take it as something random, without deep reasons and can take prescription drugs, such as Prozac, Valium or Tylenol. This person could do thousands of solutions that are rational and "objective" (and reductionist in nature) for his sadness, but ¿are they solutions or distractions to the problem?

Another example of our current reality: psycho-tropic substances. Tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and prescription drugs are within the legal limits in an almost global perspective, while cannabis, LSD, cocaine, heroine and opium are outside of that legal limits. Based on what is this difference? Quickly any agent or representative of the law could answer "Because some are addictive and harmful, while the rest aren't", but the reality is that all of them have adverse effects, with addictive potential. Then, if all have adverse effects to health and all have the potential for addiction ¿What criterion in reality is used to assess if they are legal or illegal? Possibly because one can be an addict to nicotine, caffeine, be an alcoholic and being sedated by prescription drugs and continue to be "productive" economically speaking, while on the other drugs one cannot. Hallucinogens can bring persons to altered states of consciousness where holistic and "irrational" thoughts can emerge.

The aspiration to objectivize the collective subjectivity towards money, "productivity", "efficiency", "utility", all being economical concepts to respond to human needs, human needs that don't respond to such criterions. All in the purpose to keep social order, maintenance of status quo as utopia, utopia with rational basis, logical towards an ideal, but absurd towards what is human. An ordered society its not the consecuence of the satisfaction of all the ideals and desires of all persons.

"... in a purely quantitative world everything would be dead, rigid, without movement... Its evident that any being different from us feels other qualities and, therefore, lives in a different world from ours. Qualities are our human idiosincrasyes properly said; to ask that these interpretations  and these human values to be general and perhaps productive is one of the most outstanding crazes of the human pride."


(This is a fragment from last trimesters final essay i did... was originally in spanish.)

Humanity is almost 7 billion people. Now that the mortality rates have decreased, there is a never ending population bloom. Makes me think about Darwin; if natural selection kept the survival of the fittest, what is happening now?

From what ive heard, most governments promote the abstinence doctrine towards "reproductive health". Why so?:

a)   To win some good-buddy points with ultra-conservative groups.
b)   Because they know its not a true stance that holds up outside of paper:

Its not a true stance, because, the age for sexual relations nowadays is surely 14-15 years of age, and some propaganda here and there is not gonna stop them from getting it on.
So the government accomplishes its real goal, young people having sex. And if the government is talking about abstinence, they are not talking about sex with preservatives, and if they don't have sex with preservatives, they get pregnant - And if they get pregnant, then you have 2 persons that probably will not make it thru college and that will have to join the  work force – and if they join the work force, chances are, their child will join the uneducated work force someday too.

Nowadays, big business and government are synonyms. And about big business and uneducated work force: nowadays there is a disintegration of worker unions and a loss of their power, which used to be significant. Why is that? Maybe because there is so much "uneducated work force", that the supply and demand tables have turned. Now the patron has all the cards. The world is turning into one gigantic China.

Why is there cheap labor in China? Because there is so much people. If a group of people demand to be paid $10 wages, and the employer refuses to pay that amount, then they would normally be in a Mexican stand-off or would have to start negotiating. But if theres another group of people that would do the job for $9 wages, then theres no need to negotiate. And with this type of system, why stop at $9 wages?

And there aren't any nice things to say about the greedy top 20%... Im not sure what would be a good estimate for a good living... we perhaps live in different economic universes... id say id be content with an annual income of $27,000... and why would any person (that doesn't have offsprings) want any more than that? With it I can pay rent, pay for my cars crap, pay taxes, food, clothes, technology, bills, etc etc etc...
Id like to tell you who would want to: people that buy into all the materialistic crap we are fed daily and people with a bottomless pit of emptiness.

Dysgenic masses to my left, greedy sickos to my right; in front of me a wasteland.

http://gcn.com/articles/2009/08/19/microsoft-internet-anonymity.aspx?s=gcndaily_200809?cid=nl_DR_DAILY_T

Microsoft researchers have unveiled an anti-hacking concept that can help track hackers or malicious content to origin servers.

The Host Tracker program's goal is to "de-anonymize the Internet" through the ability to host servers with 99 percent accuracy.

Host Tracker is designed to unmask would-be hackers who take advantage of anonymizing techniques by cross-referencing Internet protocol traffic data to identify the true origin. Microsoft's representatives said the Host Tracker system relies on application-level events -- in this case, Internet Explorer browser sessions -- to automatically infer host-IP bindings

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