revenge of the chirophobic

finally managed to see the final installment of star wars (“uh, well, ahem, actually, the film in theaters now is technically the third installment, you most likely saw the ‘final’ way back in” -fuck you) and it was enjoyable. while sitting there in the theater, mid lightsaber battle, i had an epiphany about this epic which changed my conception of it completely and suddenly cast a new light on the proceedings. what dawned on me was this: george lucas has a raging, shivering in the corner, sweating and whimpering case of chirophobia.

the science service

“the purpose of the science service, founded in 1921, was to bridge the chasm between scientific achievement and the public’s knowledge of such achievement. from the beginning, the challenge for science service was to convince the scientific community that a news syndication service could successfully popularize science by presenting unsensationalized, accurate, and fascinating scientific news to the american public, and to convince news editors that science was newsworthy. during this period much fake science was published, and scientific news of real importance seldom reached the public.”

downloads section open

just wanted to let everyone know i’ve finally gotten around to opening up the downloads section of the site. it’s a modest begining. as of now we’ve got 11 original desktop wallpapers available, each in 3 sizes (800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024) as well as the old testament activity book. expect many more goodies in the future. hope you enjoy.

posted by jmorrison on 05/28 | announcements | | permalink
green aliens and cunningham

last tuesday I went to see the most recent res show at the egyptian theatre in los angeles. featured were 16 or 17 short films, mostly music videos, for artists like amon tobin, aesop rock, quasimoto and mad lib. the most anticipated piece was the newest short by famed video director chris cunningham. named “rubber johnny” it is his first film in over three years, and apparently he picked up where he left off. creepy, jarring, and occultish, johnny had many of the audience members laughing at its onset, but there was no sound in the theatre by the end save that of the aphex twin soundtrack and the uncomfortable shuffling of feet and flyers. this film is maybe his wierdest yet. another piece that caught my eye was a wickidly sharp video from the UK featuring a group of cars labelled the “petrol crime bureau”, who chase a gas-guzzling SUV through a series of turns and tricks. The next res show is in june 28th, which unfortunately i won’t be around to see, but it’s good to know that cunningham hasn’t decided to pack it in just yet.

posted by Cast on 05/28 | sights & sounds - film | | permalink
hermetically unsealed

If you’re of a mind to read Aleister Crowley, his writings can be hard to find. The biggest repository of his writings on the internet, as far as I know, may be found at the hermetic library. There’s also a good chunk of Hakim Bey there, and some other oddities (well, odd depends on the observer). They even have a few recipes, like this one which I gather is used in gnostic ritual:

posted by tbuckner on 05/27 | lost & found - belief | | permalink
clever wax related title here

hot wax? wax that ass? puttin’ it on wax? wax poetic? house of wax? wax works? i was stone and he was wax, so he could scream and still relax? whatever… came across this sweet collection of rare early wax cylinder recordings from around the world (Africa, South Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands, China, Eastern Europe, south America, England and Scotland) aptly titled: ethographic wax cylinders. interetsting. for some mo’ wax try cyberbee, the percussive arts society, edigraph, and the edison n.j. site (very near my birth place btw). for cylinders of the month and mo’ info check out tinfoil.com.

posted by jmorrison on 05/27 | sights & sounds - music | | permalink
doc, it’s my narcolepsy, doc, you got to fix me up

From New Scientist: 11 steps to a better brain. Found the link on slashdot; I do some of this stuff, but not enough. I especially like the narcolepsy medicine, which I think I must see the man about: “A few drugs that might do the job, known as “cognitive enhancement”, are already on the market, and a few dozen others are on the way. Perhaps the best-known is modafinil. Licensed to treat narcolepsy, the condition that causes people to suddenly fall asleep, it has notable effects in healthy people too. Modafinil can keep a person awake and alert for 90 hours straight, with none of the jitteriness and bad concentration that amphetamines or even coffee seem to produce. (see bolow for more)

posted by tbuckner on 05/27 | tech & science - bio | | permalink
2004: good times

“during 2004, the human rights of ordinary men, women and children were disregarded or grossly abused in every corner of the globe. economic interests, political hypocrisy and socially orchestrated discrimination continued to fan the flames of conflict around the world. the ‘war on terror’ appeared more effective in eroding international human rights principles than in countering international ‘terrorism’. the 2005 amnesty international report which covers 149 countries, highlights the failure of national governments and international organizations to deal with human rights violations, and calls for greater international accountability.” aint the world grand?

posted by jmorrison on 05/26 | news & views - headlines | | permalink
science is boring, art is stupid

that was the all caps tagline put together by princeton university for it’s first annual art of science competition, with the adendum, “prove us wrong.” i suppose it was meant to be an eliciter of double takes and perhaps a professor farnsworth-esque “uh-whaaauh?” they may have unintentionally gotten it half right though. anyhow, quote: “this spring we asked the princeton university community to submit imagery produced in the course of research or incorporating tools and concepts from science. the resulting assembly of images celebrate the aesthetics of research and the ways in which science and art inform each other.” the results are pretty cool. love the ants! some of you may notice bukowski’s mug in mooney faces by aaron schurger. reminds me of the faces in the old nonist before the redesign. anyone remember those? whish i’d known i was engaged in testing cognitive “perceptual closure?” i’d have charged by the hour.

rest your brain for a minute.

A beautiful young New York woman was so depressed that she decided to end her life by throwing herself into the ocean. But just before she could throw herself from the docks, a handsome young sailor stopped her.

“You have so much to live for,” said the sailor. “Look, I’m off to Europe tomorrow and I can stow you away on my ship. I’ll take care of you, bring you food every day, and keep you happy.”

With nothing to lose, the woman accepted. That night the sailor brought her aboard and hid her in a lifeboat. From then on, every night he would bring her three sandwiches and make love to her until dawn.

Three weeks later she was discovered by the captain during a routine inspection.

“What are you doing here?” asked the captain.

“I have an arrangement with one of the sailors,” she replied. “He brings me food and I get a free trip to Europe. Plus he’s screwing me.”

“He certainly is,” replied the captain. “This is the Staten Island Ferry.”

Go over here for much more lowbrow, unenlightening entertainment.

posted by tbuckner on 05/25 | lost & found - wtf | | permalink
I know this is very late, but…

Scientific American hammered the crap out of the creationists in its april editorial. perhaps you saw it, perhaps not. it’s worth a second look; one does not often see sarcasm elevated to this level.

posted by tbuckner on 05/25 | tech & science - theory | | permalink
famous trials from 339 b.c. to 1999

came across this site of famous trials put together by a fella by the name of douglas o. linder. quote: “my vision was to create the web’s largest collection of primary documents, images, essays, and other materials relating to famous trials available in an easily digestible form, for everyone from junior high students to law professors.” he seems to have been pretty successful too. some of the many trials laid out in impressive detail are those of socrates, gallileo, wilde, and lenny bruce, as well as the salem witchcraft trial, nuremberg, and the scopes “monkey” trial. to quote arte johnson veddy intallesting.

posted by jmorrison on 05/25 | news & views - people | | permalink
dime novels & penny dreadfuls

came across stanford’s dime novel and story paper collection which purportedly consists of over 8,000 individual items. quote: “both genres flourished from the middle to the close of the 19th century in america and england (where the novels were known as penny dreadfuls), and benefited from three mutually reinforcing trends: the vastly increased mechanization of printing, the growth of efficient rail and canal shipping, and ever-growing rates of literacy.” take the guided tour, browse their giant image archive, or read some of the dreadfuls straight through. a huge amount of goodies with many high res images for your inspirational and/or pilfering needs.

posted by jmorrison on 05/24 | sights & sounds - books | | permalink
the happy listeners guide to mind control

a while back ken over at wfmu’s beware of the blog posted mp3s of a cassette mix he’d made 15 years years ago called the happy listener’s guide to mind control. it contains aural propaganda of all sorts to please all types: advocacy of low-cost travel through the time-space continuum, pre-reaganomic trickle-down theory, creative bible interpretations, scientology, white hyperpatriotism, tidbits from radio moscow, anti-semitic swing music, anti-churchill swing music, toe tappin’ japan-bashing, advice on how to pick up girls at the museum, and of course some soundtrack excerpts from u.s. government training films. a nice free for the taking collection for all your retro brainwashing needs. (via j-walk)

posted by jmorrison on 05/23 | lost & found - wtf | | permalink
casual numismatics

it’s sunday morning and far from expelling the money changers from our temple, i’ve decided to celebrate the one and only omni-denominational abstraction which all humanity agrees to place its faith in, our favorite diety, cash. now i for one am not a high priest in the church of money, nor a pecuni-logian, nor even an alter boy really. in point of fact if i can be considered in the flock at all i am closest to being the guy on line at the church of money’s soup kitchen. but from the filthy layman’s perspective, all functional realities aside, i think money is aesthetically gorgeous and culturally fascinating. with that in mind let’s do some casual web-based numismatics. presenting: a currency related hodgepodge for your pleasure…

posted by jmorrison on 05/22 | sights & sounds | | permalink
What Kinda Universe We Running Here, Anyway?

Jaime asked me if I would do a post or two yesterday while he was away. Instead, I fell asleep early. On a Saturday.  How square is that?

Here are a couple of links linked only by the fact that they were both penned by deep thinkers thinking deep thoughts about their place in the scheme.

We’ve all heard of Philip K. Dick; this is a piece from 1978: How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later. It’s on deoxy.org, a website which rewards searching.

Meanwhile, over at subgenius.com I found a remarkable piece among the archived newsgroup posts. Now, the mask of the subgenii is that of false religion and low humor, but a peek behind the mask reveals something very real and stirring: travels of the zion froptic, a long rant that just gets better and better, and in my opinion is a great spiritual document. find me a church where this might get read, and maybe I’ll go. His own website has the same rant, a blog, and a bit of bio: Orthodox Anarchist (was the44.net).

posted by tbuckner on 05/22 | lost & found - belief | | permalink
national archives of japan

in april of of this year japan launched a website for it’s national archives. since then they’ve been slowly digitizing the holdings and putting them online. they offer a huge amount of government documents which might be of interest for researchers, but more interestingly for the rest of us, they’ve also made some of their visual materials available. categories include documents, maps, photographs, drawings, scrolls, and posters. the last two of which were most interesting to me. the galleries are modest thus far but as time goes on this ought to become a great resource especially considering the high resolution of the images available. check it out. (via octopusdropkick)

posted by jmorrison on 05/21 | sights & sounds | | permalink
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