truer words have yet to be spoken

James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior, told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."

This isn't a fringe opinion either. This is US policy, thanks to the merging of church and state. Sorry I talk so much about the states, but we're talking about the worst and most hated US president in history. I find it too fascinating to ignore.

Mind Fuck of the Week

So I ride my bike in one direction, to the train bridge over the river nearby, then i get off my bike and find a trail down to the river and start following the trail back roughly towards the direction I'd came from. I follow this trail for a while and the steep bank eventually flattens out to a marshy area, but I'm still following the river. I knew where this river goes and I knew I'd end up really close to my house. At the end of this trail, as things are flattening out, there's a road that starts at the end of this trail. I'm getting farther from the river, but still basically paralleling it. The forest was really fucking cool and I started to feel really good. Almost as if I was high on something, it was great. After a while I start to wonder how much longer it could possibly be.
The original bike ride was like 10 minutes, and i'd been walking for a long time now. Tthe forest changed a few times, but it was still the same road. Eventually I get to a fork in the road, and go left, away from the river cuz I figure it'll be a shortcut towards my house, since it had to be pretty fuckin close by now, I'd walked at least a km since the road started. Anyways, so I'm walking down this fork and it turns into a trail, and pretty quick, I got lost, but thankfully there was flagging tape, so i found a trail without having to back track, and I followed it back to the road and thought I'd just found a shortcut that went ep the road more. So I'm walking for a ways, and I notice a tree across road that looks awfully familiar and the same branch was broken that I'd broken before. Then i start to notice other things. Now of course your're saying, 'obviously he'd gone in a loop', but it's not that simple. I was always heading in roughly the same direction and didn't do any backtracking. Plus I was only on that trail for like 7 minutes and when I got back to the road, it took longer than that (even though walking the road is quicked) to get back to that fork again. Something didn't add up, plus either way, I'd still walked way further than I should've had to to get back to my house. So I took the other fork this time and found recognizable territory pretty quick and finally got home. I'd ridden my back for like 10 minutes, and then walked for more than an hour to get back. I dunno, it still trips me out. made me view this whole area quite differently. Really fucked with my head and I still have a headache.

Are we wake-walking through our dream-states or dream-walking through our waking-states?

Interpret your dreams here

Noble to Nobel

I finished that Nobel scientist's book. Very good read, I can't believe I read it so fast. Next up is "In Exile from the Land of Snows", which is 'the definitive account of the Dalai Lama and Tibet since the Chinese conquest'. This one's longer, it's small print and over 400 pages. I'm hoping it'll take about a month. The underlying theme of "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field" was about questioning the scientific dogma that we're fed and being more skeptical about what we choose to believe. He detailed how there has been no evidence that HIV causes AIDS, that we don't need to take any vitamins, that Global Warming is a scam, and he also talked about how corrupt and ignorant the scientific community can be. Questioning the assumptions we make really pays off. Do we have any guarantee that that's actually Osama bin Laden on those tapes? What guarantees that jsut because a label says Made in Canada, that it wasn't made in an underground sweatshop in Vancouver? Does a label that says 'all natural' actually mean anything? Even after we think we've dug deep enough, there's still plenty of more layers to go. Okay, so you finally stopped using dairy products. Did you know that soy cheese is full of saturated fats? So you don't eat at McMurder anymore, but do you really think all those preservatives in packaged foods are any better for you? So you stopped drinking pop, too bad that your waters full of chlorine and fluoride. There should be not limits to your inquisitive nature. Never stop asking questions. That environmental group you joined could very well be pocketing the profits. Just cuz it's labelled left-wing, doesn't mean much. By the way, those 'light' cigarettes you switched to are lodging fiberglass into your lungs with every inhale. Don't trust anyone else's opinion or any book's so-called fact (and certainly don't listen to the news or read the newspapers if you're looking for the truth). Searching for the truth in each situation can seem trivial, it will be boring, and it will take time, but I think think it's worth it. Of course, as usual, the choice is yours to make....

Digging

Alright, well I've got a little more info to share, but contributions would still be appreciated. I stated this last night, but I'll say it again, any indication that the 1900s were the warmest century on record seems to be based on poorly organized data and there does not seem to have been an actual significant rise in temperatures when reliable means of gathering data are used. 1998 was the hottest year of the century because it was an unusually warm El Nino. Th Greenhouse Effect refers to the process by which our atmosphere makes earth inhabitable by slowing the loss of heat. It is not comparable to an actual greenhouse or a car left in the sun, it is much more subtle and dynamic than that. The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming are NOT the same thing. In fact CO2 emissions appear to have a mch lower effect on the Greenhouse Effect than we've been led to believe. Apparently the ocean level rises about 18cm/century (if my graph-reading skills are accurate), but this is do to the fact that we're still recovering from an Ice Age. Sadly, but through no fault of humanity, the glaciers are going to continue to melt. By the way, 90% of the world's frozen water (snow, ice) is on Antarctica. Another interesting fact, if the world DID warm up, either naturally or caused by us, it would rain more and would do much to bring clean drinking water to the incredble amount of people in this world who don't have access to safe drinking water.

Grains and Greens

If anyone wants to do some research into the whole global warming/greenhouse effect/ozone depletion, I'd be really stoked. Obviously there's plenty of information out there and it's entirely possible that I oversimplified the issue in the last post. I still need to educate myself on the greenhouse effect, for example. So yeah, someone help me out here (*psst* Drew and Craig).

Going Against the Green

Well I only hope that by ignoring my ego's impulses and swallowing my pride, I can gain your trust in the future as being objective and honest. The book Trina gave to me by the Nobel scientist has a chapter claiming that Global Warming is a scam. Thankfully, she had mentioned this beforehand, so I prepared myself by forcing myself to maintain an open mind. He made a good case, so I followed his advice and did some investigating. The reasons why Global Warming in general isn't happening are a lot harder for me to explain, but it seems that results from shoddy research have been greatly exaggerated, and the computer programs used to predict climate change are shitty programs, and the earth naturally warms and cool over the centuries naturally, so we'd have to look a lot further back than 1900. It is true that 1998 was likely the warmest year of the millennium, but that's no cause for alarm in and of itself. Also, if you looked at an annual mean temperature graph for the last century, it would appear to be rising, but that's no reason to prepare for an apocalypse. 100 years is nothing. If the trend continues and we start breaking records every year then I'll start to wonder, but hey, wasn't it -40 in Golden a few weeks ago? Anyways, onto the myths....

Holes in the Ozone: We've been taught that because of all the CO2 we've put into the air, it has SOMEHOW drifted to the north and south poles, creating holes that will heat up the earth. It turns out ozone is completely regenerative. Ironically, when UV rays run into oxygen, ozone is made (O2 ---> O3), so if there are holes being made, they're perpetually patching themselves up quite nicely, and as long as there's oxygen for us to survive, there's oxygen to regenerate the ozone. Now keeping that information in mind, we can see why there actually ARE holes in the ozone above the poles. This is because not enough UV rays come through to make turn O2 into O3, and if there's not enough UV rays to do that, there's certainly not enough to warm anything up. Also, these holes naturally increase and decrease with the seasons, but they the two pole's holes are inversely proportional to each other, thus creating a balance.

Polar Ice Caps Melting: Take a bucket, add some water and some ice cubes. When the ice cubes melt, does the water level go up or down? It goes down. If the polar ice caps melted, would the ocean level go up or down? They'd go down. I can't believe I never thought about it. Whatever got me believing the opposite must've been some pretty potent propaganda. However, take into consideration that while the Arctic’s melting ice WOULDN'T raise the ocean level, Antarctica’s melting ice would. This is because Antarctica is on land, hence it being the 7th continent. So IF the ice melted, it WOULD melt raise the water level, BUT the average temperature in Antarctica these days is -50*C, so we don't have much to worry about.

Now this isn't to say that the environmental movement is a scam. There's not strong evidence saying that the Earth is warming up, but I haven't ruled it out yet. Lung cancer/asthma, air/ocean pollution, and deforestation are still horrible things. I still have to rethink this whole Global Warming thing before I will know how many of my eco-beliefs are affected by these revelations, but hey, I'd rather be informed than ignorant. btw, do your own research, the article I found to be the most useful is here.

Warsawpack - Valdez

uno communo

Had a barrage of crazy dreams last night, like 4-5, all really fuckin weird. In one, I shit egg yolk everywehere in the desert and offended some royalty, so I was condemned to death. In another, I was reading an email from Vikas telling me about his new system of beliefs, called Khristi or Khristni, that basically entailed envisioning how life could be different. Anyways the last dream I had was very vivid. I was in some pseudo-Golden setting and everyone had gone to some lake in the winter and I went there unprepared by myself, without swim shorts, and along the way there was a table, representing some organization, with three guys there in matching shirts. So i got to the lake and I think Derek Webster was in charge and there was a building built over the lake to keep the water warm, and everone was there and i got naked (no shorts) and got in, but then i notcied dead chickens hanging from the roof and all the steam was condensing on them, and then dripping into the water. So everyone was having fun, but i'm like, "whoa, fuck this chicken shit", and i was gonna leave, but then everyone went totally silent (and not just cuz i was naked). Some kid dragged the dead body of this other kid out and dumped it in the snow. It was a really cinematic, dramatic sort of scene. but then things continued on. it was like the kid had died of some mysterious thing, like in a horror movie. Now i forget the transition, but somehow, this huge snake beast monster thing that was like an anaconda (from the movie), but way thicker and not as long. Everyone scatttered and took off except me, and there was some weird narrative in my head. Eventually I escaped, and was bookin it down the ramps back to town but just before I woke up, I noticed that there was a soundtrack. The only words i rememebr were, "my thoughts on madonna". I dunno, maybe it was me singing. At one point, when the monster was alone with me, i knew it was a dream, but i wasn't lucid. It was like I wanted to wake up before I got eaten by this thing, but i couldn't wake up, then I forgot I was dreaming. The chicken thing was so weird....

So I went exploring today in my dad's truck, down some back road, found a branch off of it that was in decent shape, then down this even smaller branch, and I stumbled upon a dwelling. I got out and apparently no one was around, but they had a big structure for animals (chickens and goats). I wandered around and there were two campers that must've been the sleeping quarters. There as still a fire going and some kittens were chillaxing. After a few minutes I relazed and realised I wasn't going to be confronted with a shotgun. They looked quite well established and I was fascinated. I wrote a not to them saying hello and that I'd come back to visit sometime and not to worry, that I didn't touch anything except the kittens. Later on, I met another vehicle on the road and it turned out to be part of the family. It was the wife and 3 of the 6 kids, and a cute niece. The husband was out walking the 30 or so goats (I saw them in the distance). She seemed quite nice and said they'd lived out there for 10 years. I asked them a few things and asked if it was alright if I came back. So I'm VERY stoked on this. It's not everyday you find someone with that much forest-dwelling experience. I'm going to go back and interview them and learn as much as I possibly can about all aspects of their lives. I imagine they'll be an excellent source of information that will help me establish a commune one day, if I still desire to. I suppose they don't quite fit the definition of a commune since it's jsut one family, but 10 people is still a decent-seized number. I have so many questions, so I'm gonna write every single one down so I don't forget anything. I'll take notes when I talk to them and I'll do a write-up on them. I'd like to do this within two weeks. Maybe I'll get some pics to, if they don't mind

So I didn't get that job at the video store, apparently the person that was quitting decided not to. Maybe I'll become a panhandler. Better here than anywhere else in BC, warm and no snow. I hear street kids in Victoria live a decent life. I mean, if you like selling crack cocaine.

Western Medicine

The book I'm reading right now is one that Trina gave me for my birthday called 'Dancing Naked in the Mind Fields', it's by this Nobel Prize winning biochemist. Haven't gotten too far but I definitely like the guy so far. I read 'Spontaneous Healing' a few months ago by Andrew Weil. He's actually pretty famous for his natural medicine approach to health and you might even recognize his face. I really enjoyed the book, mostly for his optimism in the healing systems of the body. He had lots of stories of patients coming to him with any number of terminal diseases after they'd tried contemporary doctors, but hadn't gotten any better. In every single situation, regardless of how soon they were supposed to die, they ended up fully recovering. In the book, Weil makes a very strong case against western medicine based on a number of reasons. The medical pessimism of most doctors is a big deal, especially when they're dealing with patients whose lives are in their hands. However, to avoid liability and guilt, they oftern (if not always) underestimate the patients' chances of survival. This pessimism is then transferred to the patient who in reality, needs all the positive support they can get. Western doctors are also very skeptical of any instances of spontaneous recovery, writing it off as a medical anomaly, instead of investigating and learning something. It's something we all do: "Oh that's totally a fluke, it doesn't mean anything". Another major strike against doctors is their philosophical approach to health itself. Our society puts WAY too much emphasis on treatment, instead of prevention, which has a great number of disadvantages, besides the obvious ones. Prevention doesn't require you to take pills, treatment usually does. I don't do medication. Not cough medicine, not tylenol, fuck it all. Covering up the symptoms is the WORST way to figure out what's wrong with you and by suppressing these symptoms, you're simply driving the illness/cold further into your body. I'd rather have a rash on my face than in my brain. Doctors take a reverse approach to health by examining the symptoms of what's wrong with you. This way, much money can be made of of pills and creams and scans and all that bs, plus they make sure you come back every time, since we're not pro-active enough about our health to make sure we don't have to come back. It's a scam. Just like the dentist, just like chiropractors. I mean, western medicine does have SOME useful aspects of it. No other system deals with emergency trauma (car accidents, broken leg, poisoning, etc), but we've got to start reverting back to the systems of the world that actually SOLVE our problems. Sure cancer is random, by definition. But we're increasing those odds with every poor decision we make. Cell phones, microwaves, tv, computers (my only vice), non-organic food, smoking, make-up and most other so-called beauty products, fake tanning, etc. These days, 1 in 3 females, and 1 in 2 males will get cancer in their lifetime. But what does modern medicine focus on? Cures. How about we start living a more natural life, instead of relying on such drastic measures as liposuction, chemotherapy, and all these fucking chemicals that are just compounding the problem. there's a natural cure for anything and everything. From cancer to acne to diabetes, there's a natural way to manage anything. Prescriptions are a very slippery slope. We live in a toxic environment and we face two options. Give up and accept that a chemical-induced fate awaits us, or really start to pay attention to what we allow near and into our bodies. It's very tough and requires many lifestyle changes, but hey, it's your body. Here's some stuff paraphrased from Trina's blog....

"Surprisingly, fluoride has NEVER been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Additionally, a 1990 study stated that fluoride has been shown to NOT reduce cavities, and scientists are now linking fluoride to dental deformity, arthritis, allergic reactions and about 10,000 unnecessary deaths each year from cancer. (From 'Fluoride, an equivocal carcinogen'. National Cancer Institute)"

"FD&C Blue Dye # 1 & 2: Are you eating crude oil for breakfast?
Recent studies indicate that FD & C Blue Dyes 1 & 2 can trigger a wide number of behavioral, learning, and health problems. FD&C color dyes may also cause potentially severe allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches, nausea, fatigue, nervousness, lack of concentration, and cancer. (From 'Formation of carcinogenic aromatic amine from an azo dye by human skin bacteria in vitro' & 'Skin discoloration with blue food coloring' )"
(ALL artificial coloring are evil)

"Triclosan: A pesticide found in many types of toothpaste
While the companies that manufacture products containing triclosan claim that it is safe, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has registered it as a dangerous pesticide. The EPA gives triclosan high scores both as a human health risk and as an environmental risk."

"Hydrated Silica: A whitener that damages tooth enamel"

"'Popular shampoos contain toxic chemicals linked to nerve damage'
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found a correlation between an ingredient found in shampoos and nervous system damage. The experiments were conducted with the brain cells of rats and they show that contact with this ingredient called methylisothiazoline , or MIT, causes neurological damage. Methylisothiazoline – a plant-derived preservative." Head & Shoulders and Pantene Hair Conditionar both contain this ingredient (as well as others, no doubt)
"The chemical causes these effects by preventing communication between neurons. Essentially, it slows the networking of neurons, and since the nervous system and brain function on a system of neural networks, the slowing of this network will suppress and impair the normal function of the brain and nervous system. These finding were presented December 5th at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting."

oh yeah, another thing: stop wearing make-up, it's unhealthy on so many levels

Click to enlarge


As you can see above, the proposed new voting system for BC would've changed a lot in the last election. On May 17, there will be a referendum where we get to decide whether to use the old system (first-past-the-post) or the new proposed alternative (single-transferable-vote). Every household in BC had a little booklet mailed to them (I got mine today), so take a look at it if you get the change. The basic premise is that STV will make sure that no ballot is waster. You get to number your choices in order of preference and if your first choice doesn't get enough votes, then your vote is transferred to your second choice and so on. I believe the new system is definitely a step in the right direction and will allow people to vote for the party they want (Green Party) not the party that has a chance (NDP). I'm quite excited because I think the green party will get a lot more support now that voters know it won't be a wasted vote. The new system won't take effect this election, because it will mean a whole new ball game. There'll be numerous candidates for each party in each district, so your first and second choice could still be the same party. Lots of benefits to this, but yeah, read the booklet and vote in the referendum. It's the cool thing to do....

Iceland, an unlikely Utopia

Summarised from an article by Eliot Weinberger, entitled 'Heaven on Ice' in _Utne Reader_ (May '97) reprinted from _The Nation _(Feb 10th '97) and another by Richard C. Morais, entitled 'Who are the happiest people?', in _Forbes_ magazine (Oct 23rd '95) monitored for the Institute by Roger Knights.

The classic social ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, along with more modern ones such as sorority and sustainability seem, of all Western nations, to have been best realised in the unlikely, but spectacularly beautiful setting of Iceland. 82 per cent of its citizens reckon themselves satisfied with their personal lives, which is the highest figure anywhere, some 10 per cent more than the United States.

Remote from the convulsions of European history, its small, ethnically and linguistically distinct population (268,000) have sustained a remarkably cohesive culture over their 1,000 year history. (Since it was originally uninhabited, it has none of the painful colonial legacies born by other nations.) Even now, its uniquely literate population - they are the keenest readers on Earth - are all well-versed in their foundation sagas, which celebrate the trials of ordinary folk (rather than kings or gods) and the magnificent glacial wilderness which surrounds them still. They speak more or less the same, unique language as their forefathers, and have the same, ancient system of traditional names: first name plus fathers' first name plus 'son' or 'daughter'. The phone book is indexed by first names - all of which are the same - and people can differentiate one another only because they know each other.

They also have one of the longest democratic histories in the world - having invented the idea of a parliament, and established women's rights to divorce and property some thousand-odd years ahead of the rest of the world.

It is also, nevertheless, a modern, capitalist welfare state, which provides well for its citizens, and is notable for its equitable social mix. The statistics make one's jaw droop: there is very little unemployment; no poverty - and no conspicuous wealth either; they have the world's lowest infant mortality rate, and are fantastically long-lived. Whilst enjoying the advantages of modern technocratic society, they seem to have escaped most of its pitfalls: Since there is so much freely available geothermal heat, they have little pollution; there is no army and little crime. Most prisoners are allowed home for holidays and children walk the city streets without
fear.

How have they achieved this remarkable social success? Writing in the _Nation_, Eliot Weinberger suggests that Iceland has simply been lucky with its happy combination of history and geography: its success could not be emulated elsewhere. Another historical fluke theory, from sociologist Thorolfur Thorlindson of the University of Iceland, argues that the Icelanders' gift for contentment arises out of their centuries of coping with an extreme climate and the vicissitudes of a fishing economy.

However, as a long standing advocate of small nations as the best social formula, the Institute for Social Inventions is pleased to note that Iceland's Utopian social achievements have been realised on a very human - almost tribal - scale: Akureyri, for instance, its second city and cultural capital, has a population of 15,000.

thanks George

Jan. 27, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- Most patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington have a lot on their minds: the illegal and unnecessary war they just fought, the injuries they came home with, the future that lies ahead. The last thing a wounded soldier needs to worry about is where the next meal is coming from. But for hundreds of Walter Reed patients, that's a real concern. Starting this month, the Army has started making some wounded soldiers pay for the food they eat at the hospital.

Blurb from another article:
Interrogators at the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay had also told the Sydney man they had killed his family and superimposed animal heads on photos of his wife and children, Steven Hopper said.
"One of the prostitutes stood over him naked while he was strapped to the floor and menstruated on him," he said.

Indulgence

I finished my second Carlos Castaneda book last night and it definitely made me stoked for the next one. It ended by introducing Carlos (this is non-fiction, remember) to the concept of there being 8 worlds that we have access to, 2 of which are feelings and understanding. Carlos always tries to rationalize and analyze things, so it's kept him chained to the world of understanding. The world of feelings is something we are all, of course, quite familiar with. When we think of indulging, we generally think of good things taken too far. Eating too much chocolate, smoking too many doobies in a day, snorting too much coke off hookers' yatches, the usual; however, in this book (A Separate Reality), the shaman constantly scorns Carlos for indulging in negative emotions. This would include doubt, fear, self-pity, and anger, for example. By indulging, we become paralyzed and get swept away in the emotion. Now it makes sense to involve yourself in these feelings as little as possible, but I think if you think about it, often times we succumb to these emotions quite voluntarily. The shaman was trying to teach Carlos how to live like a Warrior and, as thus, he would not have time to waste indulging on such a counter-productive feeling as Fear. He didn't help Carlos figure out how to eliminate fear, he was simply expected to just stop from indulging in it, apparently by exercising self-control/discipline. Usually I try to rationalize (this is where the world of Understanding comes in) practical solutions as to how to reduce certain feelings, thoughts, etc, but perhaps logic isn't necessary. As soon as we identify that we are thinking about these things (fear, doubt, etc), perhaps we can just stop as easy them right in their tracks. Now I'm usually the last one to say something like that, but something like fear, at least in certain situations, arises instantly. So perhaps certain feelings we can't simply reverse as easily, but when we can positively identify it's beginning, perhaps we are better armed to deal with it. Alright, this is verging on rambling now, so I'll leave you with that to ponder....

fascinating

Finnish prisons don't have fences or armed guards. Inmates per 100,000 people are 14 times lower than in America. An excelent read, here

hypocrisy repent

On the path to self-discovery

Well I wasn't gonna go into specifics in the previous post, but then I realized the blatant irony in that, so I dug out my Political Ideologies textbook from my Poli Sci class. Keep in mind that some of these differ in definition, while others differ only in connotation. I think my favorite is the fascist definition of 'freedom'.

btw, Autonomy means governing yourself, self-determinism, and independence.

Perspectives on....

History:
Liberals - gradual progress
Conservatives - tradition
Fascists - decline from the 'golden age', yet cyclical

Religion (but not necessarily 'Spirituality'):
Liberals - a private matter linked to personal choice
Conservatives - a valuable source of stability, desires no separation of church and state
Anarchists - an institutionalized source of oppression
Fundamentalists - essential and unchallengeable

Nature:
Liberals - a source to satisfy human needs, only valuable when transformed by human labor
Conservatives - feel superior over nature, view it as cruel and harsh
Socialists - like Liberals, view nature as a resource
Anarchists - a model of simplicity, harmony, growth and balance
Fascists- brutal struggle, cyclical regeneration, primal instincts
Feminists - creative and benign
Ecologists - an interconnected whole, a source of knowledge and 'right living', fulfillment coming from closeness and respect for nature, not from the attempt to dominate it

Authority:
Liberals - rises from below through consensus of the governed
Conservatives - a natural necessity that comes from above, beneficial and necessary
Anarchists - unnecessary, destructive, oppressive, and exploitative
Fascists - a manifestation of personal leadership, should be absolute, unquestionable, and totalitarian
Fundamentalists - a reflection of unequal access to religious wisdom

Economy:
Liberals - a vital part of civil society, prefer a market based on property, competition, and material incentives
Socialists - prefer common ownership and absolute social equality
Anarchists - depends solely on branch of anarchism, believe it or not, there are anarcho-communists, as well as anarcho-capitalists. Other branches reject an form of an economy (hey, that's me!)
Ecologists - condemn most markets as growth-obsessed and environmentally unstable

Equality:
Conservatives - view society as naturally hierarchal
Fascists - believe that humankind is marked by radical inequality, between leaders and followers, and between various races and nations
Socialists - a fundamental value
Anarchists - political equality, an equal and absolute right to personal autonomy
Liberals - moral equality, all people are born equal
Feminists - sexual equality, equal rights
Ecologists - biocentric equality, all forms of life have an equal right to live

Society:
Liberals - a collection of individuals
Conservatives - an organism, a living entity
Marxists - characterized by class struggle
Anarchists - characterized by unregulated and natural harmony, based on the natural human disposition towards cooperation and sociability (but of course, not all ideologies agree on what Human Nature is)
Nationalists - cultural or ethnic distinctions
Fascists - believe that individual existence is meaningless without dedication to the common 'good'
Feminists - patriarchy with artificial divisions

Human Nature:
Liberals - self-seeking, self-reliable, but reasonable and capable of development (through education)
Conservatives - essentially security-seeking, rational unreliable, morally corrupt creatures, drawn to the familiar, tried, and tested
Socialists - social creatures shaped more by nurture than nature
Anarchists - sociable, cooperative, self-interested, but rationally enlightened
Fascists - ruled by the will and other non-rational drives, seeking social belonging based on nation or race, the masses being fit only to serve and obey
Ecologists - believe that materialism, greed, and egoism reflect the extent to which humans have become alienated from the oneness of life

and last but not least....

Freedom:
Liberals - give priority to freedom as the supreme individualist value
Conservatives (George W. Bush) - the willing recognition of duties and responsibilities
Socialists - self-fulfillment achieved through creative labor or cooperative social interaction
Anarchists - the achievement of personal autonomy, self-willed and self-directed, incompatible with any form of political authority
Fascists (George W. Bush) - reject and form of individual liberty as nonsense and propose that 'true' freedom means unquestioning submission to the will of the leader
Ecologists - inner freedom arises from the achievement of oneness, self-realization, self-actualization, and the release of the ego

LexiCONartists and IdeolOgres

Bush mentioned the words 'Freedom' and 'Liberty' almost 50 times during his inauguration speech. Just in case your sharp eyes haven't pierced through the empty rhetoric and you're left wondering how someone so horrible can seem, at face value, to value the same things as the rest of us, let me point something out. Neither liberals, libertarians, or anarchists have a copyright on the words in question. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

True or False: Fascists and Communists don't value freedom.

FALSE. Every single ideology has their own definition of words such as equality, justice, freedom, etc. Of course these definitions may directly contradict the next ideology's, but that's just how the game works. It's just like 'good' and 'evil', I hope we've all learned by now the folly of using such words without due caution. It's not the labels and the lexicon that define an ideology, it's the SUBSTANCE. The meaning behind it all. Some people see everyone as being equal because even the weakest person can kill the strongest person, thus we must all be equal. There's some intersting definintions out there. This is why political speeches are so often completely void of any content, because they jsut throw out these words that we all value and they reel us in, without us ever questioning the interpretations and connotations that the politician has in mind. I listened to a speech of Paul Martin's in person (well actually I wasn't rich enough to be invited, so I eaves-dropped (sp?). Now he used the exact same words that his opponents were using, except he didn't go into any detail whatsoever. He'd throw out a few key words, pat himself on the back and wait for the applause. Apparently the mindless, blithering generalities of it all still managed to captivate the upper-class audience. Next time you hear someone ranting and raving without talking specifics, stop them right in their tracks. "What KIND of freedom, buddy? Justice according to WHO?". We can all scream our faces and, by putting quantity over quality, manage to integrate all sorts of ideas, but what's the point? Of course, this extends (as do most things) to all aspects of life. Ask someone if they believe in life after death and will their answer tell you anything at all? Reincarnation, returning to the earth, heaven, etc. If you're gonna talk politics, religion, or fuck, ANYTHING, you gotta dig deeper than the level of the cliches and stereotypes.

Vancouver Island, click on it to get a better view (although it depends on your browser, I can zoom in quite a ways). Qualicum Beach is just below the bottom-right corner of the top square

executive decision

I've decided to be more consistant by not posting anything about my day-to-day personal life, unless it leads into a decent rant. Anyone that's close enough to me knows what goes on and anyone that isn't probably isn't too interested in my simple doings. Plus things have become a little melodramatic lately and I really don't think converting this blog into a diary is gonna solve anything. I seem to have enough progressive ideas flowing to be able to post something meaningful every day or two, so I'm gonna focus on that from here on out. Still gonna post pics though....

Success!

Buried Alive

My bathroom reader lately has been this big book called Unexplained Mysteries and right now, it's this very curious little section of accounts of finding animals, mostly toads, still alive, but encased in rock. For example, miners would bust open a small rock and a frog would be inside, having fit perfectly as if the rock were a body cast. The frogs usually only survive a minute or two, as if they can't breathe real air, but some of them survive to live out teh remainder of their freaky-ass lives. The weird thing is that they've found toads that are 6,000 years old, that have been extinct almost as long, and yet, here they are, living a few final minutes, after being liberated from their living tombs. Now, if that's not hard enough to beleive (there were many accounts though), they even found a fucking pterodactyl inside this one cave. Ten foot wingspan, stumbles out of the rock, takes a few breaths, and proceeds to die. No theories have been formulated to explain such a fucked up thing. what a trip that'd be, to be either the pterodactyl (more than 50 million years encased in rock, or to be the fuckers that found it....

Believe in yourself and refuse to succumb to any negative thinking. Don't be afraid of anything, for you have all the answers already. You also have all the power that you need, to be whoever you wanna be, and do whatever you wanna do. Manifest your own destiny

Tofu pt 2

Alright, now I'm not gonna preach or draw upon my large collection of vegetarian quotes, cuz I'm sure that only the converted among you would read on. Instead, may I present to you some statistics....

Land Utilization and Soil Erosion

• One-half of the Earth's land mass is grazed by livestock
• More than 60% of the world's rangelands were damaged by overgrazing during the past half century.
• As much as 85% of rangeland in the western US is being degraded by overgrazing.
• Overgrazing is by far the most pervasive cause of desertification.
• 35 pounds of topsoil are lost in the production of one pound of grain-fed beef.
• 64% of US cropland produces livestock feed.
• Only 2% of US cropland produces fruits and vegetables.
• Pounds of edible product that can be produced on an acre of prime land:
  
• Apples 20,000
• Carrots 30,000
• Potatoes 40,000
• Tomatoes 50,000
• Beef 250

Water Consumption

• The number of gallons of water needed to produce one pound of edible product:
  
• Apples 49
• Carrots 33
• Potatoes 24
• Tomatoes 23
• Beef 2,500

Endangered Species

• At least 100 animals are added to the endangered species list each year.
• Between 19 and 22% of all threatened and endangered species are harmed by livestock grazing.

Rainforest Destruction

• 5 million acres of rainforest are felled every year in South and Central America to create cattle pasture.
• Cattle ranching has destroyed more Central American rainforest than any other activity.
• 70% of cleared forests in Panama and Costa Rica are now in pasture.

Pollution

• Manure produced by all farm animals in the US annually is roughly 10 times the waste produced by the human population.
• Factory farms are the biggest contributors to polluted rivers and streams in the US.
• 1,785 water bodies were impaired by feedlot pollution in 39 states in 1993.
• About 60,000 miles of streams in the US have fisheries impaired by feedlot pollution.
• More soot is emitted from the grills in Los Angeles fast food restaurants than all the city buses.

Pesticides & Food Contamination

• Since 1945 when pesticides made from petrochemicals became popular, the following changes have occurred:
  
• Percentage Increase
• 3,300% overall pesticide use
• 20% overall crop losses due to insects
• 100,000% pesticides applied per acre of corn
• The drinking water in nearly every midwestern city south of Chicago is contaminated with agricultural weed killers.
• Meat, poultry and dairy products contain the major source of pesticide residues in the western diet.
• 95% of human exposure to the potent carcinogen dioxin comes from consuming meat, poultry and dairy.
• The EPA issued more than 1,000 warnings against eating fish from chemically-contaminated waters in 1994.
• Nearly half of all fish sampled by Consumers Union was contaminated with bacterial from human or animal feces.
• 99% of US non-vegetarian mothers' milk has significant levels of DDT. Only 8% of US vegetarian mothers' milk has significant levels of DDT.

Resource Distribution

• Resources used in the production of livestock:
• 33% of world's fish catch
  
• 38% of the world's grain harvest
  
• 50% of all the water used in the US
  
• 60% of Brazil's grain harvest
  
• 70% of US grain harvest
  
• 80% of US corn harvest
  
• Almost half of all energy expended in US agriculture
  
• 14% of all cattle are fed back to cattle as part of protein-fortified feed.
• Approximately 8 million pounds of poultry manure are fed annually to California's beef cattle.
• 50% of all the antibiotics used in the US are fed to animals, and 80% of them are used to promote growth, not to treat disease.
• 12-16 pounds of grain and soy are needed to produce one pound of grain-fed beef.
• All 17 of the worlds major fishing areas have reached or exceeded their natural limits due to overfishing.
• $3.7 billion subsidized animal feed grains in 1995. They are the USÕs most heavily subsidized crop.

World Hunger

• 5 million children in the US go hungry every month.
• Approximately 40,000 people die each day worldwide due to hunger or hunger-related causes.
• If Americans reduced their intake of meat by merely 10%, 100,000,000 people could be fed using the land, water and energy that would be freed up from growing livestock feed.
• 10 billion people could be sustained from present croplands if all ate a vegetarian diet.

1. Frequency does not mean intimacy
2. Anonymity isn't safety
3. Complacency is never decency
4. Only you can end your suffering

2012 and Beyond

alright, so here is what my research has turned up. I've discarded any theory that was too complex or had has been generally considered to be flawed. There are many overlapping theories, as well as things intersting coincidences across different and diverse theories (DNA, I-Ching, Maya, etc)

The main component, as far as I'm concerned, to the whole 2012 theory is the Maya contribution. The Maya civilization was about 3000 years old when it started to decline in 8th century, but was only finally wiped out in the 16/17th century during the Spanish Conquest. They are held to have been an advanced civilization, much like Atlantis was. They were incredibly advanced in astronomy and modern day astronomers are only just now finally verifying what the Maya had somehow known for centuries (and maybe even millenia). Their calendar was based on a number of things including the human gestation period and the cycles of Pleiades, the constellation of the 7 daughters of atlas, that I've been coincedentally fascinated with lately (hmmm...). Subaru is the Japanese word for Pleiades, and it's logo is this cluster of stars. The Maya calendar has a cycle of 26,000 years and is based on the numbers 13 and 20, which are relevent indeed, but I'm not gonna go into every little detail here. The design of the calendar resembles a double helix, which of course is the shape of our DNA, which is made of 64 codons, which is the same number of hexagrams in the I-Ching. Anyways, the Mayan year has 360 days (Called a 'Tun', which is coincidentally the name of one of the I-Ching's 64 hexagrams) plus 5 unnamed days. Anyways, based on numerous corresponding calculations, the gist is that the calendar ends on December 21st, 2012. They were incredibly precise in their calculations and the entire cycle of their calendar revolves around this end-point, which curiously, they refer to as Creation.

The I-Ching is a 5,000 year old Taoist text that is an oracle. I'll spare the details of how it works, but basically it takes every little detail of the unvierse into consideration and provides an accurate oracle everytime. Hasn't failed me yet, when used properly. I-Ching means 'Book of Changes'. Two brothers, after ingesting the same mushrooms that the Maya used in divination rituals, came to the conclusion that there was something more to the I-Ching than meets the eye. They ran the I-Ching through a complex computer analysis and discovered that it was basically a calendar, involving a hierarchy of time waves that govern the unfolding of events in the universe. They graphed certain waves, finding that the peak was in 2012.

Here's a selection of other theories pointing to 12/21/2012 as the single biggest day since the big bang:
- The sun will align with(or be sucked into, i'm not sure which) the black hole that has been discovered in the center of the Milky Way
-About every 26,000 years, there is a very significant equinox, and it falls on Dec 12, 2012
-The Bible Code, which was encoded into the Torah has already predicted the Hiroshima atom bomb and the Holocaust, and says that in 2012, a meteor/comet will destroy the earth
-The sunspot cycles of the sun complete a huge cycle, which will flip the magnetic field of the sun, causing earthquakes and floods on earth
-Planetary alignment will cause colossal tidal waves
-The earth will pass over to the other side of the galaxy (like hopping over the equator), causing the magnetic field of the earth to reverse in polarity
-An Incan prophecy says a meteor 3 times the size of Jupiter will come in very close proximity to the earth, causing all sorts of calamities
-Crop circle (including the mathematics of the designs) are interpreted as warnings from aliens that we are to use to prepare for 2012 using the information encoded int he designs
-Time and evolution are speeding up in an inward turning spiral, eventually reaching a center singular point. I've heard that these days, we experience life 8 times faster than we would've 100 years ago. This also makes sense with the speeding up of major events in history like industrial revolution, technology and such. Major changes are happening faster and faster in our evolution.
-Population of the earth is projected to reach 10 billion in 2012.Following from the observation that there are 10 billion atoms in a neuron, and 10 billion neurons in the human cortex, it is said that humans will become the cells of a global 'brain'
-Many psychics and remote viewers (astral projection) have said that they cannot see anything past 2012, as if there's some barrier blocking their visions
-Time travel will finally become reality, and time will cease to be linear

There are also various theories involving the zodiac, tarot cards, and the egyptian pyramids that all point to 2012. Other ideas for what could happen on that special equinox are the dawn of a new world age, a massive shift in human consciousness, or basically Existence Part 2. Another theory states that the earth will be sucked into a temporal hole. A temporal hole is supposedly like a black hole, except that instead of sucking in physical matter (including light), it sucks in Time. The earth will be sucked in and time will cease to exist. The bottom line seems to be that something incredibly huge will happen. Some theories point to things as simple as a meteor impact, UFO landing, flood of biblical proportions, etc, but the more fascinating ideas are about an explosion of human consciousness. Some suggest that it will be the end of the earth, while others simply state that it will be the end of existence, as we know it, but that there will certainly be something afterwards, and whatever comes afterwards would be the equivalent of mass enlightenment, unification, etc. These theories don't contradict each other and I simply view it all as indicating that there are all sorts of cosmic forces that are centered around that date. Some people suggest it'll be Dec 23, not Dec 21st, but that's close enough for me. With the overwhelming amount of data from such diverse (both in time and location) sources, I think if we all looked into it enough, it'd be hard to remain skeptical, due to the overwhelming amount of information. The sites I used the most were Fusion Anomaly (just serach for 2012 and go from there) and Diagnosis 2012
I hope I haven't summed things up to hastily. Almost all of these theories are fascianating in and of themselves, and these are less than half of the theories out there.

Integration

I don't even know what song these are the lyrics too, but I love it integrates so many ideas.

Feel the vibe in the circle of Divine Forces
Steady teaching rhythm, poetry and mental resource courses
With a lot of feedback and very little distortion
Let peace and freedom reign in greater proportions
And all ties to Babylon will now be severed
And well truly celebrate movement and measure
Swallow the red pill and watch fools blindly chase monetary pleasures
Or take the blue and your days will be cloudy never
Because there are two types of people in the world
And its been like this for so long it feels like forever
There are some who pay more to eat less and those who have no food whatsoever
And every president seems to deem welfare a big flop
While biotech firms breed a new crop of genetically modified hip hop
Selling death and disease and claiming its nutritious
But our drum beats bang so loud that we still call them seditious
We are guided like the universal water
One with the Creator-- the supreme mother and father
Taking hip hop culture one step farther
And for the record--- fuck the foreign offense policy of this country
Bitter superpower meets sweet super poverty
The goal of exploitation has become redundantly clear
A cloth made from globalization is what x-cowboy terrorists are dying to wear
And its easy to wash us down in our own fears
We've been conditioned like this for years and years
Walk through a Wal Mart world with a unique idea and everyone will stare
Mind illumination is too bright for Reptilians to bear
We stay up all night perfecting beats and rhymes made to tear
Down the walls built with the mortar of a hypocrisy that tends to slant
Take a stance and wage a new battle for the proletariat
Cause at the present moment the devils wet dream is in full effect
And true peace is what the Pentagon tries to circumvent
So you better check
What your seeds are learning when you leave the job of babysitting up to the TV
Market led deregulation of our airwaves is making it hard to breathe
Cookie cutter programming sprinkled with greed
100 plus channels divided by 5 corporations on that damn cable
Equals virtually no diversity
Cause it seems like theres no press thats really free from tyranny
So we take the airwaves back to gain liberation and sanctity
For life
CEOs attempt to market and sell back your strife
But we are Pacifists buying the dream of Conscientious Objectors
Birthing thoughts of liberation with help from our ancestors
Quit injecting our seeds with hormones so they'll grow faster
Wake up
Because while we're busy playing our Playstations
They're manufacturing consent for war in Third World Nations
Using 21st century slaves to build phallic toys that are anti-creation
And 9-11 was just another case of the chickens coming home to roost manifestation
And there are patriots ingesting political propaganda as their only information sources
tune in to feel the vibe in the circle of Divine Forces
Steady teaching rhythm, poetry and mental resource courses
With a lot of feedback and very little distortion

Rabbit Hole Squared

Well thanks to http://fusionanomaly.net I've come across a plethora of mind-blowing material. This reminds me of when i first learned about Masons, lucid dreams, and other fun stuff. I've been hesitant over introducing conspiracies because of the connotation with the word, but these things I'm working on make conspiracies look like high-school melodrama. I've gotta figure out how to present this material, so I'm not sure when it'll be up, but it's coming, mark my words. And it will be trippy. I mean, if you like trips....

exerpt from http://fusionanomaly.net

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Karl Marx:
It was an historical inevitability.

Martin Luther King, Jr:
I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross the road without having their motives called into question.

O.J. Simpson's defense team:
Did you see the chicken cross the road? I didn't see the chicken cross the road. How can we be sure the chicken crossed the road? Just because the chicken was on this side for a time... and now is on the other side... is not adequate reason to be sure it crossed the road.Freud - The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

Mark Twain:
The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

Albert Einstein:
Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

Timothy Leary:
Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take.

Buddha:
If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken-nature.

Charles Darwin:
It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees.

Ernest Hemingway:
To die. In the rain.

Jack Nicholson:
'Cause it fucking wanted to. THAT'S the fucking reason.

Adolf Hitler:
Because it was his racial destiny to expand his Chickensraum.

The I-Ching:
Because 9 in the first place means it furthers one to cross the Great Road. No blame

Lao-tse:
If I told you, it would prove I don't know.

Colonel Sanders:
To persuade the vegetarians that a chicken is just a fast plant.

Al Gore:
Because I designed the Inofrmation Superhighway so that all chickens, especially American ones, can cross under our benevolent supervision.

Fox Mulder - You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it?

Saddam Hussein - This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

Dr. Seuss - Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes! The chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed, I've not been told!

Trinamic Dynamics

Well that was certainly the best birthday in recent memory. I haven't had any face-to-face contact with any sort of friend in a month, so it was certainly welcomed. The trip included, among other things, torrential downpouring, an I-Ching (oracle) reading, a raging river, a waterfall, a rainforest, and staying up till 8am. Trina bought me a copy of Waking Life, I can't wait to watch it again, but my brain's been scrambled and I think I need a nap first. Looks like the next month will be jam-packed with some excellent musical events. Krafty Kuts, Stanton Warriors, Rise Against with Tsunami Bomb, and Lorin. I'd like to hit at least 3 of the 4, so it should be a ton of fun, especially with my new dancing partner. If anyone is interested in making a road-trip to Seattle for Rise Against and Tsunami Bomb on Valentine's Day (a monday), I'd be pretty stoked. Drop me a line and we'll start planning.

Out of the -teens and into the Two Oh's

Alright, 20 years old. Groovy. Trina surprised me last night by offering to be my companion on my birthday camping excursion. So that's beyond cool. I haven't hung out with anyone in a month, so perfect timing. She's gonna get here tonight after my birthday dinner, then we're gonna take off towards the othe side of the island and probably camp at the spot I was thining of, if we can find it at night. Then we'll do some exploring tomorow for the day and I'll plop her back on the ferry at like 11. So don't expect any updates till late tomorow night. I guess I made up for it yesterday with the long ass posts. Right then, pip pip, cheerio, I'm off to have a spot of tea and enjoy the day.

Tsunami Bomb - 20 Going On

atmospheric pressure

So I double posted today apparently, so if you read the long post earlier, it's now got a few paragraphs added to it throughout.

So when I rode my bike down to the ocean today, it was quite foggy, inducing a sort've weird vibe on the beach. I'd spent enough time outside today that my mind wasn't going ridiculously fast, so I was able to pick up on how eerie the surroundings were. It's like you know when you go somewhere new in nature, and you're in awe and you look at everything with new eyes and such, but when you go back to something you're used to, it's doesn't seem so special and you probably don't pay much attention. It's a shame really, because I think we go through our days all too often stuck in our own thoughts without simply observing things as they pass us by. It seems to take something totally new for us to take notice. The forests around here seem so alive to me because it's all new flora, but I think if we can shift our perception, everything can become as awe-inspiring, whether it's a novelty or not. The more familiar we are with something, the easier it is for us to label it. Once we label something, we tend not too look at it too in-depth because we tell ourselves we already know what it's about. Everything becomes a tool for us, simply equipment to be utilized. The apple tree in your yard is only good when it's bearing fruit, the river is only nice when it's the right temperature or color. This can extend to people as well. I think the effect of this sort of inevitable mentality is that we stop living in the moment. We yearn for something new, something undiscovered, even though we really don't know that much about our surroundings or the people around us. We don't know what makes the river green or blue, what species of apples those are, nor many many things about the people around us. I believe the remedy to this thought pattern is to resist labeling things, allow them to exist exactly as they are and simply observe them, without thinking about it's color, texture, personality, etc. The quieter are minds become, the more vivid everything becomes. So next time you leave your house, instead of 'oh there's that bush that's dying, there's the mountain where I ski, this is the person I pass everyday to work', try simply allowing everything to be as it is, without your mind interfering with your perception of it. Let it all be absorbed and by resisting the urge to objectify everything, you'll maybe realize the connection you have with everything and start to feel more alive. By resisting the urge to label something as healthy, dying, good bad, ugly, beautiful, and etc, we simply allow things to BE. Everything in existence is fine just the way it is, your critique isn't correcting or bettering anything, it's simply clouding your vision. Ironically, there is an wealth of experience that you are denying yourself by thinking so much. Once you can free yourself from imposing judgment on everything you see, you'll start to become more receptive to the subtle workings and energy of the environment around you. I'd use words like atmosphere, vibe, aura, etc, but you'd prolly just label me a hippy....

Beatles - Let it Be

Bush, Lakes, and Cynicism

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two oh

I think for my birthday on friday, I might go camping by myself for the night. I remember this small camp site down by this river on the way to Tofino, past Port Alberni that I've always wanted to camp at. I'm well aware that I'd be quite jumpy camping alone, but this spo isn't far from the highway and it's got the river right there, plus if I could start a fire, I'm sure I'd be fine. Not sure if I'd keep the car on for music, but I'd certainly bring some books, meditate, and just ponder things.

I'd like to tell you about Cummins Valley. Normally for a place of this calibre, I'd be tempted to keep it a secret, but I think if you can get it together to trek there, you certainly deserve to know (and to gimme a call,s o I can tag along). Cummins Lakes Provincial Park is the only park I know of that is totally inaccessible by road. It's up Kinbasket Lake, the second valley past the Sullivan Arm. It's the only remaining rainforest of the Rockies. The only access besides helicopter would be by boat. There's no trails, no logging, but I do believe there's an alpine hut at the back of the valley (about 25km in). I will go there one day. It'd have to be at least a week trek with probably 3 other competent people. Prime grizzly country and no trails, so it'd be quite the adventure, but it's just so remote that I know it would be absolutely incredible.

I think I've touched enough on the topic of depression here and there, so instead of repeating myself, I'll direct you towards a post in Trina's blog from today..

http://adversitybreedscreativity.blogspot.com/2005/01/food-for-thought.html

It's rained so much here that the water is becoming brown, but at least the roads are clear, so I went for a run. I heard high school in Golden was cancelled today for the first time in 20 years because there was so much ice. I imagine it'll be flooding soon, and with luck, it'll be while the highways are closed too. Wouldn't that be neat?

Some fun facts for ya....
Mt Rainier, Washington, holds the record for the biggest snowfall during a single storm. Over a 6 day, period, they got 15 feet of snow. The record for most snow in one year was in California (I think), and they got about 100 feet. I saw a picture, and houses were covered. COOL! Largest snowflake ever was 15 inches in diameter. Does it piss you off that I'm not using metric? sorry.
Of the top 10 highest elevation summits (tallest mountains), 8 are in Nepal, with the remaining 2 in Pakistan. The distance from Everest Base Camp to the summit is about 3,500m. The height of the tallest mountains around Golden (probably closer around Kinbasket Lake) aren't even 3,500m. Mount Olympus Mons (volcano), the tallest mountain in our solar system, is on Mars, and it's 3 times taller than Everest AND it's 450km wide. godamn. Imagine how many more cool valleys, cliffs, canyons, and mountains there'd be if there was no water in the ocean....

This weather shit is so wild. I wonder how far back you'd have do look to find a year with so many weather-related catastrophes. Vancouver's in a 'state of emergency' after two mudslides so far, it's been raining so much in the last two days that almost all the snow is gone, and it sounds like Golden is getting snowed on like there's no tomorrow. I heard there's evacuation warning too, if the water starts to rise from the snow. So, needless to say, it doesn't look like I'm going to Vancouver, since Drew and Shawn are held back by the closed highways.

I had a dream that I was part of Pennywise, that was fun. I went to sleep a lot earlier last night and I feel better because of it.

Opiates & Rollercoasters

Craig sent me a pretty info-packed site:
http://www.notmilk.com/
Apparently, milk and especially cheese has an opiate in it called casmorphin. Don't wanna quit dairy? I see why....


It's so warm here (even now at midnight), that I was able to go for a run in just shorts an a hoody. Been needing that for a while, so I'm feeling pretty good now. Rollercoaster day though. My mom kicked my dad out for being drunk and being an asshole, then he tried to get me to fight ("spar"). I never take him seriously, although I'm sure he would go at it if I wanted to. He was supposed to leave in the morning, but I've been told the highways are closed from all the snow, so I guess he's getting a 2nd chance (more like 32nd chance). Anyways, that was the LEAST personal of my problems today. I've been feeling pretty unstable about a lot of stuff lately. It's funny how stability comes and goes. I might be meeting Drew and Shawn tomorrow in Vancouver for a peace rally, so that should spice things up a little, and I might get to see Trina too, but I'm not gonna get my hopes up on either one yet.

On the throne of Existence....

I seem to have fallen behind in my updates, although I suppose it'll allow some people to catch up. My lack of posts certainly isn't for lack of thought. I've been pondering a lot since I watched that movie (What The Bleep Do We Know). I have all these half-formed ideas, but none of them I feel confident to express. It is clear to me now that we, as beings, are capable of more than I previously thought, even though I already had high hopes. Maybe I need to go for a long walk to organize some thoughts. I definately need to watch that movie again and maybe find someone to talk to that is more familiar with the ideas rasied in the movie. Bronwyn's step-dad is one of the most inspiring people I've met and I've only talked to him for less than 30 minutes. He certainly is evidence of what lies ahead down this road of self-determination and reality manfestation, and he strongly recommended this movie. He's writing 3 books simultaneously, HA!. I have begun to believe more in more that we are the masters of our domain, but I think I'm ready to take is to a new level. Or maybe I'm not ready. I believe meditating is a good way to start expanding my potential. Lately though, I've had no trouble meditating to the point where my body falls away (at least to some degree), yet I find that I still maintain a thought process and can't seem to breakthrough to the emptiness of mind that I am seeking. I guess I just need to practice more. I should commit myself to my dreams more too and start writing them down everyday. I encourage all of you to write down your dreams, it's really not that hard to do, and it only takes about a week before you see results. A pen and paper beside your bed is all that you need, just make sure to write it all down before you have a chance to forget anything. My dream last night spanned two full days and I'd stayed up the whole time, partying apparently

The book I'm reading is becoming every interesting and I'ms tarting to remember jsut how wild the first book was. I don't think anyone would be disappointed in reading it. The author is Carlos Castaneda, and he's quite infamous, although he's dead now. his first book was called The Teachings of Don Juan, and I'm reading the second book now, A Separate Reality. I think there's at least 4 more books in the series and then as a seprate but still sequential reading, there's The Art of Dreaming, which is a compilation of what the author learned during his apprenticeship with Don Juan.

Into the nexus

I've stumbled upon something big here. This site is a massive network that must encompass everything interesting I could ever name. So easy to get lost in it. See for yourself....

http://fusionanomaly.net/

This should bring back some memories for some of you....

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/flashback.php


Soundtrack:
Shpongle - Divine Moments of Truth
(also check out Shpongle - Vapour Rumours)

Who are they?

Well I wanna watch that movie again at least twice just to absorb it all, and then I wanna get a good book on the subject. There seems to be implicit connections to all sorts of other stuff, although Buddhism was the only one I noticed. Actually I guess everything being connected was the main point of the movie. Watch it.... now.....

It's raining steady here and it's warm, so hopefully this snow is gonna get gone soon.

How well do we really anyone? Clearly personality and the concept of the 'self' are very complex concepts, so truly and completely knowing someone seems pretty unlikely. We're not computer programs that can be predictable and stable, we're dynamic beings and everchanging ones at that. So clearly it's not expected that we should be able to fully grasp someone's psyche, but in this this society of convenience and superficiality, there's not many values that put quality over quantity. Certain activities like camping with one person or being stranded with someone can give you a lot of insight, but it doesn't necessarily take anything special at all. Conversation is a wonderful thing. I've found that discussing beliefs with someone is a fantastic way of gaining perspective on your friends. Dreams for the future, deepest & darkest fears, spiritual and/or afterlife beliefs, these are all excellent starting points for a great talk. You can get to know someone more in a month than you can after knowing them for 5 years, if you're trying. We often don't allow others to see us when we're hurt or down on ourselves, but in a non-judgmental way, we can learn a lot about someone by seeing all sides of them, especially how they deal with stress. How well do you know your bf/gf? Could you actually describe them to someone who'd never seen them before? No, not their appearance or something as trivial as that. Their demeanor, their ticks, the outlook on life, their interests, and of course, their dreams, beliefs, and fears. It's too easy to glide by without observing the details in your life. Take hold of the moment and start to question things you take for granted. What do you want out of the future, who are these people you call friends, what direction is this world headed? Into the rabbit hole we dive....

The Rabbit Hole

I just watched "What the bleep do we know"

Absolutely amazing. It isn't the easiest to find (I downloaded it), but for your own sake, please do everything in your power to get yourself a copy. Blew my mind and I think I cried a bit too. Don't even worry what it's about, just watch it, it'll change your life. Wow. Beautiful. The inifinite possibilities....



on a side note, do you how much fat is in that milk you drink? 1%, 2%, 0%(skim)? HAHA, try again, fuckers. The dairy industry measures fat by volume, not by percentage of calories, which is standard. So how much fat is actually in your milk? About 33%....

7' at the shoulders, 1000lbs

Mitch Chernoff hit a fucking MOOSE tonight, going up to the ski hill, in his mom's car. He said my Geo would've gone right underneath it. Nothing's bigger than a moose.... except a giraffe, HA! No injuries, but if the Neon's hood was longer and the windshield wasn't as slanted, it woulda been bad news. a fuckin moose, damn.....