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Pat Condell: Welcome to Saudi Britain
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If you live in Britain please sign this petition against the creeping poison of sharia law before October 4th when it closes.
John Zewizz: Temple Ov Psychic Youth
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In Early 1981 I waz introduced or should I say stumbled across a secret underground cult known az TOPY (Temple Ov Psychic Youth). Through transmissions with the leader at the time, Genesis P. Orridge, we became friendz and in 1982 I met him in Boston where I assisted in organizing a "Psychic TV" performance. (a musical off shoot of TOPY). [...]
Most ov the information I gained in TOPY came to an end. It az a good source for ideas on magick. My interest in magick went into different direction than where Gen waz going. He's very sharp character. Make no mistake. But TOPY grew inconsistent az time went on... last, I mutated my own style ov grammar. I know ov one word we share (the spelling ov and that's "ov")... Neither one ov us accuse either one ov stealing it from the other, and the E[backwards E] are not a negative logo ov the PTV symbol! SC started before PTV was formed! I took the 'Double E' from a form ov Hindu sanscript. The E[backwards E] in SLEEP iz a symbol for "Forever & Eternity"... The last time I met up with Gen waz at a PTV show in Boston 2008. Funny thing... when I joined TOPY my ID card waz 'good' for getting into "all & any" PTV events... yea... 25 dollars to get in... [Article continues at link. It is criminal that more people do not know about John Zewizz and Sleep Chamber. Exonerate yourself today and learn more at the John Zewizz Appreciation Society. - Trevor Blake] Trevor Blake: Skitterbot 28 September 2008
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![]() Electric razor, nut, beam, glue, coat hangers, wire. Rechargable, loud, can find walls and irregularities in the floor, could be fitted with a pen. Also known as a vibrobot. Labels: art, robots, trevorblake, video Trevor Blake: Aisha
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Wikipedia: Aisha bint Abu Bakr (d. 678) was the second wife of Muhammad. She is quoted as source for many hadith, sacred traditions about the prophet Muhammad's life, with Muhammad's personal life being the topic of most narrations. She has narrated 2210 Hadiths out of which 316 hadiths are mentioned in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad. She stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine, when the marriage was consummated.
Bukhari (6:298): The Prophet and I [Aisha] used to take a bath from a single pot while we were Junub. During the menses, he used to order me to put on an Izar (dress worn below the waist) and used to fondle me. Ayatollah Khomeini: "A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual act such as forplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed. A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not comitted a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life." David Barrett, Nine-year-old Midlands girl rescued from forced marriage: British children as young as nine are being forced into marriage by their families, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The disclosure comes as official figures show that nearly 60 children aged 15 or under have been rescued by the Government's Forced Marriage Unit in the past four years. [...] A charity which runs a national helpline on forced marriage and "honour"-based crimes, Karma Nirvana, revealed that in one incident a nine-year-old girl from a Pakistani family in the east Midlands was taken into council care after her parents told her she was to wed. [Note: is there any question about the superstition of choice among Pakistani families? Are any of my readers going to suggest they are Buddhists, or Quakers, or Asatru Folk Assembly? - Trevor Blake] Wikipedia: The Jewel of Medina is a historical novel by Sherry Jones. It was scheduled for publication by Random House in 2008, but subsequently canceled; it was subsequently announced that it would be published by Beaufort Books in the United States and by Gibson Square in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. The novel tells a fictionalized version of the life of Aisha, one of the wives of the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, and the person who reportedly accompanied him as he received most of his revelations. The novel tells Aisha's story from the age of six, when she was betrothed to Muhammad, to his death. Jamie Doward and Mark Townsend, Firebomb attack on book publisher: The London home of the publisher of a controversial new novel that gives a fictionalised account of the Prophet Muhammad's relationship with his child bride, Aisha, was firebombed yesterday [27 September 2008], hours after police had warned the man that he could be a target for fanatics. A petrol bomb is believed to have been thrown through the door of Martin Rynja's 2.5m UKP town house in Islington's Lonsdale Square, which also doubles as the headquarters of his publishing company, Gibson Square. Three men have been arrested on terrorism charges. The Observer has learned that police told Rynja late on Friday night to leave his property. His company recently made headlines when it announced it was to publish The Jewel of Medina. [Articles continue at link. I wonder what will be happening next. Will there be peaceful protests by Muslims to make a stand against bombing the homes of book publishers? Or will there be rioting and murders by Muslims to make a stand against publishing books? I wonder, but I don't wonder for very long. A visit to The Religion of Peace might make your time of wondering brief as well. Then, like me, you'll wonder what it is that you should do. The choice is being made between accommodating infant rapists, bombers and censors on the one hand and saying LAN ASTASLEM on the other. I keep myself informed about Islam and speak out against it. What do you do? - Trevor Blake] Labels: islam
Trevor Blake: Skitterbot 27 September 2008
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Toothbrush, paperclip, motor, tape, solder, battery. Also known as a bristlebot or a vibrobot. Labels: robots, trevorblake, video
Trevor Blake: Second Appearance at churchofsatan.com
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Science Daily: Learning From Mistakes Only Works After Age 12, Study Suggests
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Eight-year-old children have a radically different learning strategy from twelve-year-olds and adults. Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback ('Well done!'), whereas negative feedback ('Got it wrong this time') scarcely causes any alarm bells to ring. Twelve-year-olds are better able to process negative feedback, and use it to learn from their mistakes. Adults do the same, but more efficiently. [...] In children of eight and nine, these areas of the brain react strongly to positive feedback and scarcely respond at all to negative feedback. But in children of 12 and 13, and also in adults, the opposite is the case. Their 'control centres' in the brain are more strongly activated by negative feedback and much less by positive feedback. [...]
Is that difference between eight- and twelve-year-olds the result of experience, or does it have to do with the way the brain develops? As yet, nobody has the answer. 'This kind of brain research has only been possible for the last ten years or so,' says Crone, 'and there are a lot more questions which have to be answered. But it is probably a combination of the brain maturing and experience.' There is also an area of the brain that responds strongly to positive feedback: the basal ganglia, just outside the cerebral cortex. The activity of this area of the brain does not change. It remains active in all age groups: in adults, but also in children, both eight-year-olds and twelve-year-olds. [Article continues at link. This information touches on so much of interest to me. I work in public schools and so I am around children of these ages. My job in public schools is that of a sign language interpreter. What might it mean if Deaf children get little linguistic feedback as they develop because their parents don't sign with them and neither do most of their peers? I also have a strong interest in evidence for and against the claim that behavior and consciousness have biological roots. I have many questions and few answers, so I think I'm learning. - Trevor Blake]
Wikipedia: Henry Earl
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Henry Earl (born October 24, 1949) is a homeless man from Lexington, Kentucky famous for his extensive police record. Nearly all of his arrests have been for public intoxication, with a few charges of disorderly conduct, third degree trespassing, second degree trespassing, and apparently one count of begging. The Fayette County Detention Center's website, showing Earl's arrest record from 1992 to present, indicates that he has not been arrested for theft or any violent offences. [...] In 2008, Earl was arrested for the 1000th time since 1992.
[Article continues at link. Perhaps a better use of the limited resources of Fayette County could be found. Prohibition is not serving Mr. Earl or the taxpayers of Fayette County well. - Trevor Blake] Labels: prohibition Trevor Blake: Sarah Palin and the Prayer Cave
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PRAYER CAVE. Labels: christianity, magick, theocracy
Wikipedia: Missing in action
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Missing in action is a status assigned to a member of the armed services who is reported missing following combat. The person in question may have been killed, wounded or captured by the enemy. [...] In May of 1991, the Minority Report of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee concluded that "any evidence that suggested an MIA might be alive was uniformly and arbitrarily rejected... " A resolution to create a Senate Select POW/MIA Committee, introduced by U.S. Senator Robert C. Smith, was passed in the Senate months later. Senator John Kerry was eventually named chairman, and was joined on the committee by Senator and former POW John McCain, who had been a strong opponent of the creation of a Senate Select POW/MIA Committee. Six live sighting investigators hired by the committee unanimously concluded that the live sighting intelligence through 1989 showed Vietnam and Laos were still holding American prisoners. [...]
In 2006, the National Alliance of Families found 1992 documents discussing the admission by Vietnam of capturing a number of missing Americans. The National Alliance contacted the families they could locate, and found that the Vietnamese admissions had been concealed from the families by the U.S. government. The U.S. and Vietnamese governments had given every indication to the families that the men had been killed in their loss incidents. However, at least one MIA, San Dewayne Francisco was reported to be alive by a North Vietnamese newspaper which was confirmed by radio transmissions by Francisco immediately after his aircraft crashed. A bill including criminal penalties for deliberately withholding POW/MIA records in violation of the law unanimously passed the House of Representatives in the 1990s. However, penalties were stripped from the law due to the efforts of former POW John McCain. [Article continues at link.]
Trevor Blake: Skitterbot
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21 September 2008. Toothbrush, motor, tape, wire, solder, screw, battery - put it all together and you have a tiny robot. Changes direction, can clear a path through small objects. Future versions will have a smaller battery, on/off switch, and more. Labels: robots, trevorblake, video Trevor Blake: Fish House Synergetics
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![]() Trevor Blake (left) and Sam Lanahan. Photograph by Kirby Urner. Kirby Urner was the first webmaster of the Buckminster Fuller Institute. Doug Jacobs is the author and director of R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe. Sam Lanahan was Fuller's assistant while he lectured in the Philippines. On Sept 17 2008 Kirby, Doug and Sam and I had dinner together. Kirby took some photographs of the evening, which can be found here. Labels: portland, synergetics, trevorblake Trevor Blake: The Pope and Euthanasia
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Angela Doland, Pope Says Accept death 'at the hour chosen by God': "People must accept death at "the hour chosen by God," Pope Benedict XVI told ailing pilgrims Monday in an anti-euthanasia message at Lourdes, the shrine that draws the desperate, sick and dying. At the chilly open-air service outside the sanctuary reputed for its curative spring water, some faithful lay on gurneys, tucked into quilts and comforters. A few breathed with oxygen tanks. The 81-year-old pontiff administered the sacrament of the sick to 10 people, most in wheelchairs, gently anointing their foreheads and palms with oil. While several European countries permit euthanasia, the Vatican vehemently maintains that life must continue to its natural end. The pope said in his homily that the ill should pray to find 'the grace to accept, without fear or bitterness, to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.'"
Jeff Israely, Was John Paul II Euthanized?: "In a provocative article, an Italian medical professor argues that Pope John Paul II didn't just simply slip away as his weakness and illness overtook him in April 2005. Intensive care specialist Dr. Lina Pavanelli has concluded that the ailing Pope's April 2 death was caused by what the Catholic Church itself would consider euthanasia. She bases this conclusion on her medical expertise and her own observations of the ailing pontiff on television, as well as press reports and a subsequent book by John Paul's personal physician. The failure to insert a feeding tube into the patient until just a few days before he died accelerated John Paul's death, Pavanelli concludes. Moreover, Pavanelli says she believes that the Pope's doctors dutifully explained the situation to him, and thus she surmises that it was the pontiff himself who likely refused the feeding tube after he'd been twice rushed to the hospital in February and March. Catholics are enjoined to pursue all means to prolong life." BBC, John Paul's last words revealed: "Pope John Paul II's last words before his death were 'let me go to the house of the Father,' according to documents released by the Vatican." [Articles continue at links. "Let me go to the house of the Father." And so it was done - the Pope did not pursue all means to prolong his life, he requested death, and it was granted to him by his physicians. Just don't you kids try this at home! Can the Pope be morally infallible if the Pope holds contradictory moral views? More importantly, why do millions venerate the Pope when clear evidence of his inhumanity and hypocrisy are at hand? - Trevor Blake] Labels: christianity
Emperor Joshua Norton: Proclamation of September 17, 1859
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At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of S. F., Cal., declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S.; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall, of this city, on the 1st day of Feb. next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.
NORTON I, Emperor of the United States. Labels: subgenius Trevor Blake: At Every Turn in Its Thought...
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In March 2008 I listed a number of times I copied a link from somewhere or another that was then copied by boingboing a few days later. The trend continues!
Labels: blog, ovo, trevorblake Trevor Blake: Delicious
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I use delicious.com every day, all day. Sometimes when the service is updated I like it better, sometimes not. Here are two tools that work around some recent changes I don't like while preserving those that I do like.
Hugo's popup posting bookmarklet for del.icio.us applet restores text selection to enter a description, something removed from the current plugin for delicious on Firefox. Rentzsch.com clued me in that the URL http://del.icio.us/api/posts/all followed by my login and password would give me an XML file of all my links. Currently, delicious.com times out if one tries to back up one's links and one has a large number of them. Me, I have 13,000+. Delicious is a trail of my Web use, a place I can put all my links, a way to share what I find interesting, and a means to quickly pull together what I have seen online on a single theme (trevorblake) or two themes (music+video) or more. Not everyone wants or needs to do these things, so not everyone will want or need to use delicious. I do. Labels: blog, tools, trevorblake Trevor Blake: Food and Crime
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Fergus Walsh, Can nutrients improve behaviour?: One thousand young offenders from three prisons in England and Scotland are being recruited for a major trial to see if nutritional supplements can improve behaviour. [...] Professor [John] Stein believes that food supplements 0 Omega 3 fish oils in particular - can improve reduce the anti-social behaviour of prisoners. [...] Prisoners on the trial will take four capsules a day with their main meal. Half the volunteers will get the micro-nutrients and half placebo or dummy capsules. [...] A smaller, pilot study at Aylesbury Young Offenders Institute in 2002 showed that inmates receiving the supplements committed a third fewer offences. Professor Stein believes the trial, which will report in two years, will prove a success.
Science Daily, Criminals Who Eat Processed Foods More Likely To Be Discovered, Through Fingerprint Sweat Corroding Metal: The inventor of a revolutionary new forensic fingerprinting technique claims criminals who eat processed foods are more likely to be discovered by police through their fingerprint sweat corroding metal. [...] Dr [John] Bond said: "On the basis that processed foods tend to be high in salt as a preservative, the body needs to excrete excess salt which comes out as sweat through the pores in our fingers. So the sweaty fingerprint impression you leave when you touch a surface will be high in salt if you eat a lot of processed foods - the higher the salt, the better the corrosion of the metal." [Articles continue at link. If food is linked to crime, and if culture is linked to food, are some cultures more or less criminal than others? If food is linked to crime, should some foods be discouraged or outlawed? Or should some foods be mandatory? If we use free will to eat or not eat foods that limit our free will to not commit crimes, where is our real free will? - Trevor Blake] Rosemary Clooney with Tony Mottola and his Orchestra: Little Red Monkey
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Or download the mp3 here. Semiconductor: Brilliant Noise
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Brilliant Noise takes us into the data vaults of solar astronomy. After sifting through hundreds of thousands of computer files, made accessible via open access archives, Semiconductor have brought together some of the sun's finest unseen moments. These images have been kept in their most raw form, revealing the energetic particles and solar wind as a rain of white noise. This grainy black and white quality is routinely cleaned up by NASA, hiding the processes and mechanics in action behind the capturing procedure. Most of the imagery has been collected as single snapshots containing additional information, by satellites orbiting the Earth. They are then reorganised into their spectral groups to create time-lapse sequences. The soundtrack highlights the hidden forces at play upon the solar surface, by directly translating areas of intensity within the image brightness into layers of audio manipulation and radio frequencies.
US Male: Archetypal politics
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Berkeley liberal mouthpiece George Lakoff writes about psychology and politics. He holds that the Republicans stand for the Strict Father mode of governance, while the Democrats are the party of the Nurturing Parent. His PC tenets, as all PC tenets do, prevent him from telling the truth. It is the party of the Nurturing (or is that Smothering and Controlling?) Mother.
You can guess who I favor. If all the teenagers in your town are organized into gangs, how long do you think the Metrosexual Teen Quaker Meeting is going to last? Patriarchy is the natural mode of human political organization, even when the government is headed by a woman. Consider the few female heads of state: a very butch bunch. One of the ways I have described my political hejira (sic :-)) from left to right is that I gave up worshipping the Great Mother and her Puer Son-Lover and took my place in the ranks of those who serve the Great King and his Warrior-Prince Son. Nurturing is for home and family and neighborhood, not for international relations with the other gangs in this fallen world. Here's a piece that divides Mr Obama from Mr McCain on two values: honor vs empathy. Or, to put it another way, a father vs Mommy. [Does political correctness mask the truth? Is what is right or best derived (always / only / ever) from what is natural? What is the role of violence in preserving the peace? Some of my favorite questions. - Trevor Blake] Labels: philosophy Rachel Bevilacqua: SubGenius Custody Case [Maybe] Almost Over! One Final Push!
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![]() Rachel and Steve Bevilacqua, 2000. Photo by Trevor Blake Dear Friends, Thank you so much for all your support over what has turned into years since this case began in December 2005. I'm sorry to have to intrude in your inbox again, but my ex is starting the custody case up again. This time, though, it might not go so horribly awry. Let me start at the beginning: It has been a little over a year since August 2007, when I was finally allowed to return to Georgia with my son. Judge Punch reinstated himself on the case and removed custody from my ex after he was arrested for felony DUI. Although we were allowed to return home last August, it took us until last December to put our home back together more or less as it was, just in time to welcome home our newest family member,Valentine Bevilacqua! He was born a few weeks before Christmas and is nine months old now and full of rambunction. I usually spend my days stopping him from taking things apart and putting them in his mouth, as well as helping Kohl with his homework, and working at my job as a freelance corporate transcriptionist, and finding time once in a while to blog. I have a pretty busy schedule, as you can imagine, so I was glad when in February we finally received a finalized Order from Judge Punch which, for the first time in these eleven years of strife, did not explicitly retain jurisdiction over future matters with Orleans County. This means that I have a shot at getting the jurisdiction of future cases changed to Georgia, the "home state" of the child in question. This is what normally happens when parents live in different states, but for eleven years Judge Punch chose to exercise his legal prerogative to keep the case in his jurisdiction. I won't speculate on why, but last August he changed his mind and decided he would no longer keep the case in Orleans County. Changing the jurisdiction of the case to Georgia would mean that my ex could no longer hold the threat of filing frivolous petitions over my head, as he has all these years. He would have to be serious enough about the matter to travel to Georgia to file. Changing jurisdiction would mean that any time there is a dispute, I wouldn't have to give up my entire life, leave my husband and home, and go to a remote county in Upstate New York and stay until the matter ends, even if the case goes on for years. Also, any time the court had a question about Kohl's schooling, home life, social life, health care, etc, all the evidence [doctors, teachers, friends, coaches] would be right there at hand. Basically, this jurisdictional change would be a huge weight lifted off our family. Before jurisdiction could be changed, however, someone had to file in the old jurisdiction and then someone would have to put up a jurisdictional challenge at that time. You can't just switch it automatically, I tried. Predictably, I didn't have to wait long for my ex to file a new petition in Orleans County. Just six months from the final filing of the order, on August 19, 2008 I received a summons to appear on September 5, back in Orleans County to answer yet another handwritten petition from my ex, alleging violations of the order. Since February, Judge Punch has retired for health reasons, and the case is now going before Judge Michael Griffiths, who has no knowledge of the long and painful history of the case and may or may not agree with Punch's decision to let it go to Georgia. Although this new petition didn't explicitly mention the SubGenius, neither did the original petition in December 2005. Anything can happen in Orleans County, so I was very frightened at opening this up again after only six months of respite. I passed the summons on to Mr. Mattingly, the "weapons grade lawyer" who got us this far, but he replied that he couldn't represent me anymore, since, although I make payments to him when I can, I still owe him $32,000 from the case that ended in February. When I first found that out, I seriously panicked. I only had about two weeks to find a new lawyer and come up with a retainer fee! I knew I couldn't use a court-appointed lawyer, because the last time I did that, back in 1999, my appointed lawyer agreed not to tell me about a hearing they held without my presence, because Judge Punch didn't want me to know he had switched custody. He felt I was a flight risk and it would be better to let me ignorantly come to New York for a Christmas visit, and then have sheriff's deputies show up to collect my then-3-year-old son. So, I need a lawyer from the big city of Rochester, or Buffalo, not another one from Orleans County. After a lot of exhaustive internet and phone research, I was able to secure some concessions from the court, such as a postponement to September 26, 2008, to give me more time to find a lawyer, and permission to testify by telephone rather than in person. Further, I was able to locate a lawyer who is a civil rights crusader, Mr. R. Brian Goewey, [GO-wei], who is not only available on the 26th, but is also willing to represent such a degenerate artist as myself, and who is willing to do it for half of what every other lawyer has quoted me! Truly the Luck Plane tilted my way when I found him. We've made it so far from the days when I lived in a 10 by 12 box apartment crying myself to sleep every night, never knowing how my son was, never knowing if I would ever get him back. We're so close to being free from the threat of being compelled to return to Orleans County, which has hung over our heads since my son was a baby. All we need is $2,500 to get started, with a full retainer of $5,000. Of course, if things go badly, it could run into another $80-$100,000, but I'm focusing my slack waves on the thought that this new Judge Griffiths is going to be reasonable and let us go. If everyone who receives this email donates just $10, it would easily cover Mr. Goewey's fees. I realize this is the worst possible time to ask for money again, with gas prices and food prices and unemployment the way they are, but I can't raise more than about $1,500 on my own, not by September 26 anyway. I'm forced to once again appeal to you, who've helped our family so much in the past, for one more push to finally get free. Thank you so very much for everything you've already done. I apologize for asking for more; I know I already owe you a debt of gratitude that I could never repay. When my son was taken from me, the pain was unbearable, too much to take, and it went on and on, seemingly forever. My mind will always carry those scars, and if it had gone on much longer I'm sure it would have broken me. How can I thank you for helping save me from that? Words can never express the emotions in my heart when I think of how friends and strangers from all over the world came together to help my family, so please just know that you helped someone out of a living hell, and it mattered and made a difference, and someone's life is so much better now, because of your compassion. Thank you!!! May the Luck Plane always tilt your way. -Rachel Bevilacqua [Please donate here. Background at metafilter, boingboing, Wikipedia, modemac, Church of the SubGenius. - Trevor Blake] Labels: subgenius Trevor Blake: Light Cruiser Emden
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Light Cruiser Emden in Portland, Oregon USA January 1936. The Emden was docked at the foot of SW Couch street. In the background the Portland Steel Bridge can be seen. The Emden also visited New Orleans. This photograph is believed to be in the public domain. Labels: fascism, portland, transportation
Anonymous: The Right to be Here
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I'm not an anarchist. At least I wasn't one of the kids running around the Xcel Energy Center in black handkerchiefs during the St Paul RNC. Nor did I store my urine in a bucket for a week to throw on delegates, and I didn't break any windows either. But, I was one of the people detained by police on Monday. One of my co-workers even saw me on the Channel 11 news, zip-tied like a hog, being led away walking backwards by two riot police. I'm assuming that he knew me well enough to reason I wasn't there with violent intent, but asked nonetheless why I went to downtown St Paul that day. I thought about it for a second, but couldn't give a good answer to why I'm now in an FBI database. "I wanted to take pictures" and "I wanted to see it for myself" was what I managed. Then he asked why I was arrested. I had a much clearer answer for that. [...]
I thought about the original question my co-worker asked, "Why did you go down there?" and when the next coworker asked I had a much better answer. Thinking about the huge lines of police and being humiliated on TV, I answered, "Because I had a right to be there." They looked at me like I was an idiot for getting involved. I don't know how to explain that either, but I believe it in my core. I didn't go to protest, or for any other reason but for the right to be there. And the fact that nobody seemed to "get it" made it all the more important. After thinking about it more, that's the scariest thing to me now: [your] government can arrest you for walking down the street, and nobody seems to care. [Article continues at link. Tyranny needs no Leader, no Symbol, no Force, tyranny needs only indifference. - Trevor Blake] Labels: prison Trevor Blake: On the Anniversary of September 11th, 2001.
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Labels: blog, comics, islam, ovo, theocracy, trevorblake, video Trevor Blake: Mu Ryu 7 September 2008
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Trevor Blake (black) vs. Vin al Ken (gold) at Mu Ryu, 7 September 2008, Portland Oregon USA. Labels: fight, portland, trevorblake, video Trevor Blake: Two Perspectives on Islam in England
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First, the the perspective of non-Muslims in England...
Raza Mumtaz: Muslims making huge contribution to Britain's success. "The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his Ramazan message has spoken of the huge contribution the Muslim community is making to Britain's success in terms of its prosperity, society and culture. 'Ramadan teaches patience and humility, and reminds us of our shared moral universe; our obligation to others,' he said." Second, the perspective of Muslims in England... Arthur Martin: Documentary reveals hidden side of British mosque where extremist women urge Muslims to kill non-believers. "Women preachers in one of Britain's most influential mosques are calling on Muslims to kill homosexuals and adulterers, a television documentary will reveal tonight. During a hardline rant at the London Central Mosque, one preacher said Muslims who switch to another religion should also be slaughtered. The extremist sermons, filmed secretly by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, encourage a circle of listeners to follow a hardline Islamic code, urging Muslims not to talk to people from other religions." Who is more of an authoritative speaker for Islam in this case? Why do you think so many Muslim leaders are "extremists," and that this "extremist" religion is occuring in the London Central Mosque? When the average is "extreme," what does that mean?
Gene Johnson: Palin, Iraq war 'a task that is from God'
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Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God." In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will." [...] Palin told graduating students of the [Wasilla Assembly of God's] School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets. "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said. "I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded," she added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."
[Article continues at link. Gov. Palin has every right to cast magic spells honoring an invisible monster that lives in the sky. Just not to use her office to do so. Please do not vote this woman into the office of the Vice Presidency. - Trevor Blake] Labels: christianity, theocracy Trevor Blake: OGRE II
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Regular readers will know that I am a fan of the game OGRE. Take a look at the brief science fiction story Why We Fight Or, "What the Hell Happened?" by Kilroy Gold, published in 2000. Then compare that story to today's news. Notice any similarities?
Labels: games Trevor Blake: Muslim Priorities
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Yahoo News, Police detained agitators angered by Prophet Mohammed's cartoon: "Police in Tamil Nadu detained 200 agitators of the Muslim community protesting against a local daily that published a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad. Dinamalar a leading daily in the state published the cartoon on September 2. The cartoon angered Muslim community, who first stoned the office of the newspaper and later destroyed 4 state run buses. Police has reportedly filed a case against the newspaper and is investigating the issue further."
Telegraph UK, Pakistani women buried alive 'for choosing husbands': Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, told a stunned parliament that northwestern tribesman had done nothing wrong in first shooting the women and then dumping them in a ditch. 'These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them,' he said. 'Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.' The women, three of whom were teenagers and whose 'crime' was that they wished to choose who to marry, were still breathing as mud and stones were shovelled over their bodies, according to Human Rights Watch. The three girls, thought to be aged between 16 and 18, were kidnapped by a group of men from their Umrani tribe and murdered in Baba Kot, a remote village in Jafferabad district. According to some reports, Baluchistan government vehicles were used to abduct the girls, and the killing was overseen by a tribal chief who is the brother of a provincial minister from the ruling Pakistan People's Party." [Articles continue at links. In a better world, Muslims would be in the streets protesting murders committed in the name of Allah. In this world, Muslims are in the streets protesting comics and murdering women. Please, someone find for me the evidence that I am wrong. The Muslim world consistently does the one thing necessary for such evil to flourish: nothing. And what is the West doing? What are you doing? Myself, I keep stories like this in circulation. It isn't much but I can say that I'm neither a censor nor a murderer. - Trevor Blake]
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