Topics

You want a revolution?  You technically can have one.
But ALL of you want one YOUR way (burger king, anyone?).
The Black Iron prison & fnord and the Machine are all very interesting (I've only got to the Machine),
but the only way to really get your revolution is this, and it's simple:
take out the american aristocracy who keep ruining it for you.
Now, how to do that?
I could plan that, but no fuckin way am I gonna plan that here.
And another aside - this entire site is probably already monitered by the CIA, so watch what you freakin do!
I'm in a psyche unit and I'm sane.  Think about that.

Where did the Universe come from?  Wait.. what is the Universe?  Wait.. what is the definition of "is?"  No, the definition of "the Universe" is vital to understanding where it came from.  We tend to accept that "the Universe" is all that there is (meaning: it affects us).  Space could be considered a component of the Universe - even if only vacuously.  But, to keep the record straight:  What does the Universe look like?  A ball?  A brane?  Fractional (fractal) dimensional objects?  Or do we even know?  It would be interesting to have a conclusion to this, but it is improbable it exists in its current form: everything there is.  So, how do we understand the origin of everything there is if the sum of the component parts is intangible?  We can deduce a reason.. like "it was a single point and that's all there was because forces acting on stars and planets now cause them to accelerate, and those stars and planets are all accelerating away from each other, therefore, by reversing time, we see them all collapse in on each other."  But was there only a single point?  Were there multiple "origins?"  Where is the edge of the Universe? (or is there one at all?)  If these questions cannot be answered, what kind of results will we get from our limited observational capabilities?

You cannot disprove God with science. You cannot disprove science with God.

You cannot worship science like it's God. You cannot study God like it's science.

And, when your religion becomes science, you cannot make your science God (i.e. Nature operates just fine without divine intervention AND God is real to some, most even, no matter what logical arguments you use to disprove Bible verses written 2000 years ago).

If you can separate your God from your science, you can see that both can be "true" (and you have to know what that means).

http://www.reasons.org/tnrtb/2008/06/02/evolution-as-mythology-part-5-of-5-conclusion/
This is a somewhat neutral look at creation theory vs. evolution.  It explains that both share something in common: faith.  It sucks that that has to be true, but, somehow, I believe it (I have faith that it takes faith for our 2 current theories of the origin of life). 

I do believe there is a strong element of chance involved in the origin of mankind, but it is not as simple as Lord Boldemort building atoms out of wood in his workshop and creating the world's first humans (where did the animals come from?).  So, there literally needs to be some grand explanation (even if it's simple) for how we (and they, the furry woodland creatures) got here.  It could be aliens (please, Aliens, let it be aliens!), it could be God (in that some Universe or galaxy is God... or perhaps even the laws of Nature) or it could be totally, completely, undeniably random chance (even though 100% randomness is, and always will be, just an idea).  So, whatever your bias is will most likely lead you to whatever theory you believe in (I go for the mathematical/scientific kinds).  But, it is not an arbitrary belief, this belief in the Origin of the Species.  No, it affects you and everyone else, like it or not.  So (I use the word 'so' alot), choose, but choose wisely.  The real grail, er.. Theory will bring you life.  The false one will take it from you... (just like Diet Coke).

The old one didn't wait long enough between frames (this one is slightly improved).  For some reason, the "Step 3" frame skips ahead.  I'll post the frame below for you.  You may have to reload/refresh to see the intro.  Btw, all quotes & statistic are taken from the source cited in the animation.  If the timing isn't long enough (or it's too long) on individual frames, be sure to comment (there's 120 seconds/frame except for the 1st one, which has 40).  Thanks.

Author's note: I removed this animation because I screwed up a few minor details. 
http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=16979.0 <- Final version (or close to it, that is).

Ever notice how people don't wanna hear from people who have at least some of the answers (more or less) but will practically worship someone who's full of shit?
Examples: televangelists, popular politicians, game show hosts..
It's like the same people who demand truth and justice also long for comfort and value that over the truth they pretend to love so much.
I say to them: Why lie to yourselves?  It's lying to say, "2+2 is 5, I am right and you are not because I own a car, a house and health insurance."
I know why.  It is because you are scared to think for yourselves.
But I'm not the kind of guy to casually toss that around.
So, why are you the kind of person to rub it in over your financial success (as if blind luck had nothing to do with it) , as if my lack there-of is evidence of not only "loser-dom," but also a sort of evil that threatens your precious suburban all-white community?
Then you are the ones telling me to go to church and sell my soul to the pastor (if that's not what it is, please tell me explicitly what is wrong with my ascertion).
This is hypocritical.  Perhaps being inconsistent and oblivious are qualifications for success.  Perhaps being sociopathic is a necessary condition for climbing the social ladder all the way to the top.
Or is there a leader who *isn't* full of shit?
I hope there is!
Anyways...
I'm kinda worried about this trend in reducing a person's humanity to symptoms, illnesses and conditions.
It's like: how are we any better than animals if all we are is "thought chemicals?"
You see, though, people are obsessed with science (even though they don't understand it).
It's the be-all and end-all of every discussion
Every realm of thought
and it's killing our spirits
Notice judgements passed on "inferior" people?
"Kleptomaniac, sociopath (I'm guilty, too), psycho, etc."
They stem from psychology.
We have popular culture reduced to steaming piles and humanities once again taking a back seat to math/science, which is only useful for people who got a jump start in those areas early on (or have showed affinity to them at a later juncture).
So, what's the story here?  How can we, on the one hand, accept moral responsibility for our actions, and on the other, blame it all on chemicals?
It's a 2+2=5 standard
(in that they're both true at once and are both at odds w/ each other)
People have literally gotten away with murder because they were high on drugs
Say you are schizophrenic and kill somebody.
Even then, you will end up in a psyche ward for the rest of your life (even though, by definition, you are sometimes insane)
Another double-standard:  you have $, you have justice.
Why is it that we place a high monetary value on something as simple and human as justice?
It's the pinnacle of cynicism!
And yet, the same people who argue against cynicism (in it's practical application as a tool for dismantling bullshit) also praise our market system for such great ideas as providing exact answers to questions like: "What is a human life worth?"
Why do we still believe the lies?  Because we are weaker than they are?  Or because we are conditioned to? (Or both?)
I do know this:  there is a revolution coming.  Probably a revolution of ideas more than a revolution of armed struggle against the middle class.  And this revolution is not anything new (like global warming is supposed to be).  It's happened countless times throughout history.  Most notably, the Renissance.  It will be a dark time, for awhile, as old paradigms are shattered and those threatened by the obliteration of their dominion will show their true colors - in other words, a lot of familiar characters will turn ugly.  But it will be liberating.

Verse:

What ever happened
To Davey Crocket's coon skin cap?
To all you Injuns with law degrees
We want all of our trophies back
Good work on those casinos
And getting ahead and all that crap
Sorry bout those broken treaties
But you better pick up the slack!

chorus:
I don't know the answers
I just sing the songs
I'm sure it doesn't matter
As long as we all get a long
Why did we ever
Sing this poorly written song?
I'm sure it doesn't matter
Just cos we always get a long

Is there enough beer on the wall
For happy hour at 5 p.m.?
Will we still be able to guzzle suds
O'er and O'er again?
Is the jukebox in the corner
Running on quarters or is it my friend?
We're all gonna be hung-over tomorrow
But we've still got Aspirin!

chorus

We got nuclear warheads
And conventional weapons,too
We've got better fightin' men
You Muslim punks are gonna be screwed!
When we mow down innocent children
It's because we want freedom just like you
I'm sorry war is ugly
But that doesn't mean your country isn't, too!

chorus

I don't know what overtook me
Is it love for my land?
Am I really sure
I want to blow up Pakistan?
Nevermind the bullshit
Or my problem with Is-lam
This is war, you silly folks
So we'll sing it all over again!

chorus

Tune: E (4 bars) B7 (4) E (4) A (2) E (1) B7 (1)
I'm sure you've heard the tune before but I don't know what it's called.

"The other race" isn't coming to get you. Women aren't coming to get you. "Stupid White Men" aren't coming to get you. Your parents aren't coming to get you (oops!). Class-ism isn't coming to get you. Whiney, pretentious 8th graders aren't coming to get you. God isn't coming to get you. Jesus isn't coming to get you (oops, again!). Ex-Girlfriends aren't coming to get you. Aliens aren't coming to get you. Psychiatry isn't coming to get you. The Taliban isn't coming to get you. Jews aren't coming to get you. Catholics aren't coming to get you. FOX news isn't coming to get you. The government isn't coming to get you. Al Qeada isn't coming to get you.

Someone is still coming to get you, but who?

Game: Come up with a hero a majority of Americans believe in (or a well-known minority. or any group of people larger than 20).

Rules: only modern-day heroes. No historic ones, please. Also, only heroes we all know about. Your uncle who single-handedly stopped a bank robbery with his prosthetic shin needn't apply.

Sports heroes? Nope. Not with steroids. (I say let them use steroids. Just don't publicize it like it's important).

Religious heroes? Nope. Not with sex scandals. (I say.. uh... nevermind. But please don't publish scandals at the expense of good works).

Our troops in Iraq? Maybe. Possibly. They do a good job. But who, specifically, is the war hero we all look up to? Gen. Petraeus? Jessica Lynch? Uh... Rumsfeld?

Police? Nope. Not with "excessive force" "racial profiling" and "blatant disrespect for the law." Those donuts didn't help either, boys!

Firefighters on 9/11? What's one of their names? (No Google!)

Music stars? Movie stars? TV stars? Writers? Directors? Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are our new heroes?! AHH!

Barack Obama? I hope so, but what if this that and the other are true? And also that one thing we secretly want to be true but is forbidden to be uttered? (You know what it is!)
(Ironically, he lied about not *not* using drugs in his book. I say, in the words of someone we all know: So? FDR couldn't walk, but forced himself to stand at a podium despite having polio. Everyone knew he was crippled; no one cared. I don't think he's my hero because he lied, but, jeez! I'm hero-starved over here. I might make "Mrs. Butterworth" my hero if current trends continue).

So, is this the end of the age of heroes? Are we heading into the age of scandals? YOU decide!

EDIT: About how most people lie to themselves everyday (for whatever reason) and then force their shit on everyone else.  (it's sarcastic.  I noticed that that isn't exactly obvious, so... that's why this disclaimer exists).

Destroying nature for resources is bad, but someday science will make progress good for the planet!
Killing people is cool! (Provided you look cool, also)
Video games are setting a bad example! We might need a draft for this horrible war!
People can't know the truth lest they harm themselves!
(side note: If you can't fool all the people all the time, why do you still try to?)
Don't believe what they say, unless I say it's OK!
Mass transit is the way to go! Hum-vees are awesome!
Green energy is a waste of time! Oil prices are too high!
My woeful financial health is not indicative of a flawed system! My credit card payments are eating my life savings!
America is the land of the free! Don't let those hippies tell you to stop voting!



"
Originality is weak, thinking is criminal, rebellion is treason.
"

Oregon is stupid.

That being said, let's look at some of our "go go gadget green" policies.

1) Kill sea lions for salmon! (We can't take out the dams because Al Gore is God - i.e. Global Warming implies any negative effect on the temperature of the planet must be avoided at all costs, even the survival of another species)

2) Abandon plastic grocery bags! (Paper bags, unless certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, cost 3 times as much to make as plastic ones and pose their own, unique threats to the environment. Re-usable bags are just too darned practical for us to think about using)

3) Build a bike-only bridge across the river! (Oops! I guess that was just gonna be too costly; citizens complained. So, that one's toast. We all know that the only good ideas are popular ideas)

Those are the only three I can think of now, but I assure you that more equally stupid ideas are out there. We (Oregonians, that is) are simply making a symbolic act to save the Earth. So why not just sit out in the 120 degree weather, sipping a margarita and letting greenhouse gases bring the planet to a boil? That would be a more honest symbol of our efforts to stop global warming.

To all you baby boomers feeling self-righteous about the fact you finally own a Prius, you're too late.  You should've listened to your kids back in the 90's, but you wrote them off because Nirvana was too loud & obnoxious, unlike your precious Rolling Stones collection.  And now the only thing you can truly feel self-righteous about is the fact that your parents were even worse about environmental things.  Way to go,
hippies.

Ever think China is going to invade Afghanistan?  I think it's possible.  Probable?  I don't know.

** This is a summary of half of part 1 of "The Power of Nightmares"  I deliberately left out the part on radical Islam because I didn't want to explain it **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk1WkmioQvA


9/11 was an unthinkable tragedy for some, but a perfect opportunity for others.  Those others would be neoconservatives.  Their views are simple, and are prevalent in political life everywhere in the West.

The neoconservative ideology was borne out of the mind of an obscure political scientist of the late 40's/early 50's by the name of Leo Strauss.  He was of the opinion that liberalism, by lacking any firm, unquestionable truths, while promoting selfish behavior, had corrupted America, and that only the elite, by conveying an image of enlightened purity, could sway the individual into acting in the interests of the collective.  There were two courses of action to accomplish this:

1) Create a fictitious enemy, which was to be considered evil, and push the image of America as special and good.

2) Use religion to control (i.e. Christian Right)

Now, for a little history of the rise to power of neoconservatism..

In 1972, President Nixon (not a neocon himself) managed to orchestrate a treaty regarding nuclear weapons with the Soviet Union.  He then declared an "end to the age of fear," and he would have been right, too, had he not then been impeached.  Gerald Ford then took office with Donald Rumsfeld as his secretary of defense and Dick Cheney as his Chief of Staff.  Rumsfeld and Cheney were both adherents to the Straussian point of view, and their actions while in office reflected this.
Rumsfeld accused the Russians of secretly betraying the United States' trust regarding the treaty signed under Nixon.  He ominously claimed that the lack of evidence for a specific type of Russian submarine clearly indicated the existence of new submarine technology (this type of reasoning occurs today in the Faith-Based Science community).  Also, the CIA under Ford falsified intelligence to make the Soviets look, for lack of a better word, evil.  Propaganda ran endlessly portraying the US as under threat from enemies that existed only in its leaders' imaginations.
President Reagan was no stranger to neocons, either.  Under him, we saw the emergence of a group of powerful Christian preachers who were directly influenced by neoconservatives.  Thus, the rise of celebrities we know and love like Tammy Fae Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert.  It was truly a time to be alive (unless you're gay or a minority).
When Freedom Fighters fought the Soviets in Afganistan, Americans soon fought along side them.  Thus, neocons had their enemy and their religion.  The image of America as valiant defenders of freedom in a dark, twisted world, as well as the influence of a moral elite insisting that there is only one true path, would compel the masses to work as a whole, under the guidance of a select few.

***

Now ... fast forward 20 years.  The exact same thing is happening all over again!   It's even some of the same people, for Christ's sake!  I certainly hope the Chinese don't delve too deeply into American politics, lest our image of "absolute righteousness" be damaged.

Questions remain to be answered, such as:  Why are the perpetrators of this spurious war not in prison right now (and will likely never be)? Why is Iran our next target when the idea is so unpopular at home and abroad?  And why is a contender for President also in favor of remaining in Iraq indefinitely when the obvious moral course of action is to withdraw?

We have until 2021 before seriously bad things start happening as a result of global warming.  I believe we're in for a power struggle of Biblical proportions as the temperature starts to rise and the inaction of our leaders prompts emergency measures to be taken.  Of course, there will be inertia from governmental agencies and big business alike, but one the shit hits the fan, action will be taken.  There's an obvious problem that is being overlooked, however: Who is going to pay for the massive transition to clean energy?  A hydrogen fuel-cell car, if it's ever invented, will be affordable only to the privileged.  Other alternative fuels have their own problems, and are also astronomically expensive.  So, how is a working American family going to afford their brand new Prius?  Are taxes going to be raised in a fashion similar to that in socialist Sweden, and then have Uncle Sam distribute clean cars ala the Soviet Union?  Or (and this seems much more likely) are we going to sacrifice some of the many luxuries we have in a rich & powerful country?
If there's one thing about human nature I know to be true, it's that most people don't work unless they have to.

They walk among us...

Well, not really, but they are munching on salmon stuck in a bottleneck in the Columbia River here in Oregon.  There's 100 or so of them, and apparently they're more dangerous to the survival of the salmon than dams, pollution and fishing combined.  That said, state (or is it federal?) officials are literally going to shoot the sea lions dead. 
There's a fine line between insanity and policy.

So, I'm urging all the Chris Crocker wanna-be's to get the word out.  "Leave the sea lions alone!" they'll say between fits of sobbing.

And, as if that wasn't enough, I've prepared some "motivational images."  They happen to be complete with captions..

How could anyone kill something this cute?


Now, lets take a look at our "friend" the salmon:


Beluichhh...

I think the facts speak for themselves...

Disclaimer:  All "facts" contained herein came to me while on drugs.  Not only that, but I haven't studied relativity at all.  Therefore, I am not liable for any and all confusion that may occur as a result of reading this.

Why is time the 4th dimension, you ask?  Well, it's all really simple.  Imagine we live in 2-dimensional space.  A square, actually.  Imagine you are standing on the lower left vertice of this square and you then travel to the upper right.  Since time is the 3rd dimension in this model, a cube (assuming the time it takes to complete your journey is equivalent to the edge length of the square) with you traversing its diagonal is the complete space.

Now, if I didn't totally botch that entire thing (and that's a big "if"), lets pretend we have a massive object in our square .  Say it is in the center.  Everyone knows that gravity warps space-time.  But what does that mean?  In the square, that means our cube will become something else (here I wish I could speculate as to what it would look like) and all things traversing it will be affected (not only in the spatial dimensions but in the time dimension as well).

If that's not good enough motivation to study Differential Geometry, I don't know what is.

Iraqi intelligence officials have ascertained the identity of the mysterious leader of a terrorist organization.  His name is General Petraeus.
...
The Pentagon announced today that Iran's nuclear program has a "distinct possibility" of generating one nuclear warhead every sixteen years.  Dire predictions have been made for the year 18,008 when their nuclear capabilities match ours.
....
Nobel-prize winning politician Al Gore called for a plan to "construct your own alternative energy" so the average consumer can help meet developing requirements on using green energy.  Lego has mobilized to launch a series of products to do just that.  They are projected to be out by the end of the year.
....
North Korea vehemently decried the United States policy of ignoring their position in the Axis of Evil despite their unequivocal record at being evil.  "Iran and Iraq get all the coverage!!"  said a furious Kim Jon Ill today.  "We have tripled our executions and have launched a campaign to starve 20% of the country!  What's a dictatorship gotta do to get some coverage?"
....
The Chinese have issued a statement regarding a crucial foreign policy.  Rumors indicate this statement is ominous in nature.  Unfortunately, an American who understands Chinese could not be found.  Experts blamed a liberal conspiracy to separate Church and State for this abysmal trend in United States educational standards.  Upon further questioning, one expert commented, "If God ain't in dem schools, dem Fags is gonna wreck our kids.  Dem kids is not gonna learn dem Chinese... theyz gonna learn bout leather spandex!"
....
I'm Ekkstremo the Clown and all of us here at some random news station hope you have a good night.