Even in absurdity, sacrament. Even in hardship, holiness. Even in doubt, faith. Even in chaos, realization. Even in paradox, blessedness
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"Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage." ~Anain Nin
...[A]n older woman was interviewed after taking part in the "looting" of a store for food. After giving her full name, she expressed a great deal of remorse for what she was doing, saying that every time she'd ever seen looters on television, she'd been extremely upset by it and never thought she'd be in their shoes. Well, shame on anyone who would make these people -- who are in the middle of a literal hell on Earth -- feel as if scavenging for bread and clean water from flooded and abandoned stores is somehow wrong or shameful. jaybird found this for you @ 20:50 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Photo essay: As Katrina Struck, Bush Vacationed What Bush saw: At El Pueblo Mirage, guests relax on the luxurious greens   jaybird found this for you @ 16:26 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Things are getting strange
$3.06 gas, tensions high UPDATE: Asheville is in a state of panic. Because of the gas main rupture, gas prices surged 40 cents overnight, and many stations are closing, posting limits, and denying anyone with gas cans. UPDATE: The always laconic Citizen-Times has a terribly dry news story on the shortage. I was hoping to go down to Mississippi or Louisiana this weekend to help, but there is a 3 week committment, so I'm going to try to volunteer at the Red Cross office. I'm also making a challenge to my office to raise $500 for the Red Cross for Katrina relief. It's something. When I was filling up after a half-hour journey for gas, a school bus pulled up to the diesel pump, and a teacher's aide was quizzing the lil' ones about why they were stopping for gas. I heard many kids yell out "THE WAR!" and a few yelling out "HURRICANE!" I would've been one of the nerds beaten up for shouting out "panic buying based on a short-term interruption of oil and another artificial price spike for light sweet crude by the oligarchies which control fuel markets!" *Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone.. jaybird found this for you @ 14:29 in Local- Western North Carolina | | permalink
It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us. -- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004. jaybird found this for you @ 12:24 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
How out of touch is George Bush on this disaster?  'Nuff said jaybird found this for you @ 07:54 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
shit. Things in Louisiana and Mississippi are going to absolute hell. Please donate. Please volunteer. Please give blood, food, clothes to the Red Cross. Please expand your compassion wide and do something. Too many people just aren't quite noticing... there's not enough Guard troops (they're in Iraq), flood prevention funding for NOLA was severely cut by Bush in 2003, and poor fucker, he's cutting his vacation short by two days. I rarely use raw language on this site, but I've just got to say it... fuck him. This is a major "wake up" situation here. The government has failed in a criminally negligent manner to protect the population by redirecting critical resources away from the states and into a black hole of a false war. Citizens rising up with their compassion and giving to those who will directly help those in the Gulf States is a way to subvert a useless government through direct action by its people. Doing something compassionate right now is revolutionary, and American. Godspeed Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. jaybird found this for you @ 21:17 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
 "Its about cats. In sinks." [via metachat] jaybird found this for you @ 16:22 in cat blogging | | permalink
The process is called Fischer-Tropsch, named for the German scientists who developed the process in the 1920s for converting coal to diesel fuel, which later ran the Nazi war machine. In more recent decades, the process was used in South Africa to fuel its vehicles when the world would not trade with the apartheid nation. It still produces 150,000 barrels of fuel a day from coal. Energy technology firms in the United States and elsewhere have fine-tuned F-T to make both its process and products pollution-free. "There are no smoke stacks..." jaybird found this for you @ 12:19 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
In recent years, many physicists have become excited about a phenomenon called "quantum teleportation," which works only with infinitesimally tiny particles. It might lead to new ways of transmitting cryptographically secure messages, some speculate, but not human beings for a long time to come, if ever. jaybird found this for you @ 08:15 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Homo exhibitionist takes over zoo's Bear Mountain  We may be watching evolution in action. Or, we may be watching eight intrepid volunteers shivering their way through an inclement August Bank Holiday as part of the world's first "human zoo". They will live in an open enclosure for three days (though in a nod to the insulatory inadequacies of fig leaves, they will be allowed home each night) as part of a project designed to demonstrate man's impact on the environment and reveal his fundamentally atavistic nature... jaybird found this for you @ 20:06 in Interesting People | | permalink
Fractal Thinking: This is Not the Title of This Essay This essay is full of mistakes. Idea after idea and sentence after sentence is simply wrong. This sentence, for example, is false. Worse yet, this not even complete sentence! A long time ago (so the legend goes) a Cretan prophet by the name of Epimenides declared that "All Cretans are liars." This paradoxical statement has come to be known as the Epimenides paradox or the Liar paradox This Adam (or atom) of paradoxes has been reformulated into countless variants, yielding such gems as "I am lying," and "this sentence is false." It has been split, ("The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is false.") boxed, translated and quoted in the Bible. In short, one would assume that the Liar Paradox had been beaten to death. In 1931, a German mathematician named Kurt Gödel breathed new life into the Liar paradox in a paper poetically entitled "On Formally Undecidable Propositions in Principia Mathematica and Related Systems I": Gödel's work demonstrated that paradox forms an implicit part of every axiomatic system of logical reasoning. In this essay, I will be examining the problems which self reference and paradox pose to systems of reasoning especially formalized mathematical and logical reasoning. These two areas, in their quest for objective truth become very interesting in the light of Gödel's revelations. In the end, it may turn out that their quests for a formalized objective truth may have been in vain... jaybird found this for you @ 16:12 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
Mulkey: Cindy Sheehan's courageous stand ...Sheehan has helped move the national conversation on the war to the tipping point. For while the Bush administration continues to predict victory in Iraq and admits to no errors in judgment, truth is finally taking hold. As we knew it ultimately would, the reality of this bloody tragedy (over 1,800 American and perhaps 100,000 Iraqi deaths) has trumped this administration's hubris, arrogance and wishful thinking (being greeted as liberators, finding weapons of mass destruction and quickly exiting after transforming Iraq into a western-style democracy). At this time 54 percent of Americans believe it was a mistake to enter Iraq in the first place, 61 percent believe Bush is mishandling the war and Bush's approval rating, according to a recent poll, now stands at 36 percent. One woman's courageous stance has reawakened us to our power, to the fact that a single citizen can make a difference and that millions of us standing together can create transformation. jaybird found this for you @ 12:09 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Daily Lush: The Hurricane There is little sense of impending disaster here. Instead, drunken tourists howl sports trivia at each other while a game plays on the oversized television. The elegant aspects of Pat O's are routinely offset by the bar's more craven business sensibilities: souvenir glasses, terrible music, and a smiling woman who walks up to couples with a camera and asks them if they wouldn't like their photos taken, for a fee, of course. Many drink Hurricanes, which, with its generous dollop of rum, is alcoholic enough to put even an experienced drinker off-balance. Drinking one is something of a baptism by fire for visitors, who can often be seen staggering along Bourbon Street for hours afterward, throwing money at local hustlers or staring in amazement at children tap dancing with bottlecaps nailed to the bottoms of their shoes. jaybird found this for you @ 07:47 in Blogosphere, Tech & Internet | | permalink
Tom Waits I can see it in my dreams arm-in-arm down Burgundy a bottle and my friends and me hoist up a few tall cool ones play some pool and listen to that tenor saxophone calling me home and I can hear the band begin "When the Saints Go Marching In" by the whiskers on my chin New Orleans, I'll be there I'll drink you under the table and deal the cards roll the dice jaybird found this for you @ 22:53 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Hurricane Katrina Everyone, please consider giving right now to the Red Cross and any local food banks and relief agencies in New Orleans. We could have a catastrophe of untold proportions on our hands this time tomorrow. I had been planning on seeing relatives in Delaware later this week, but if it turns out that relief workers will be needed, I'm heading down. Godspeed, N'awlins. jaybird found this for you @ 19:08 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
Announcing Ashevillegames.com Effective immediately, Asheville NC is under a game advisory. Beginning in October, an unprecedented city-wide game will begin. For two weeks, contestants will have only one objective; to find and 'eliminate' an opposing random contestant by way of water gun. That's right... we are starting a game of 'assassin' via the moistening power of water pistols. This will be Asheville Game #1: Operation Moist Target. OMT will have strict player rules to assure that targets are eliminated fairly. OMT will provide contestants with a dossier of their target, and there will be a 24/7 reporting system of wetness, arbitrated by judges. OMT will end in a final death round, where remaining contestants will be given dossiers on very elusive targets. Local celebrities may be involved. Local businesses will be compliant, and some will sponsor prizes and a gala after-party. Signups will begin in early October at Max and Rosie's and Temptations. The $10 registration fee will benefit Manna Food Bank, and will help fund the prize of the final winner. The aim of the operation is fun, for a good cause. Visit Ashevillegames.com for emerging details, rules, and the schedule of play, which will be posted within the next few days. A new game with a new aim will be announced in the spring.... Ashevillegames.com will organize a minimum of two games per year benefiting local charities. Operation Moist Target is the first of these, so go ahead... follow Ashevillegames.com for details and for signup information. We double dog dare you to stay dry. jaybird found this for you @ 23:45 in Local- Western North Carolina | | permalink
Sidewalk Stories This sidewalk collects shadows as a raven collects the shiny. jaybird found this for you @ 11:58 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
They are going to know that I’m not going to give up and today was really hard when I came in and saw Casey bigger than life over there. I miss him so much and I miss him more every day, but like that song “Joe Hill,” Casey’s not dead. I see him in all of your eyes and Casey will never die. And they can kill the body, but they can’t kill the love and the spirit, and no matter how hard they try they can’t do that. jaybird found this for you @ 21:38 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
“In many areas of the world, something as simple as a water filter or a mosquito net could save many lives... Such small, simple products would cost almost nothing to produce with a nanofactory.” What I want to propose is that because the cost of saving lives with a water filter or an insecticide-treated mosquito net is already so negligible, especially considering the benefit it confers, that unless we actively devote ourselves to saving lives with the technologies cheaply at our disposal today, then we cannot expect more sophisticated nanotechnological solutions to these problems to be employed to that purpose, however much cheaper, more powerful, more effective they may be. jaybird found this for you @ 17:25 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
Bob Moog's Car
*Moblogging is posting from a cellphone or other wireless device- if a picture, it's taken from the phone. jaybird found this for you @ 16:03 in Local- Western North Carolina | | permalink
The stalactites hang like glass daggers over the glacial lake. Ice peaks rise against the bright blue sky like crystal pyramids. Mounds of dark rock rise up between the snow and ice, discoloured after years of being covered by the glacier. This is Pastoruri. In the past 10 years, its ice caps have retreated by about 200m. Soon it, like many other glaciers in Peru, will have disappeared almost completely. At about 5,000m, or just over 16,000ft, it is one of the glaciers worst affected by climate change in Peru. And Peru, in turn, is one of the countries worst affected by climate change in the world. Sitting between the tropics, where the sun is particularly fierce, and home to more tropical glaciers than anywhere else, this South American country is especially vulnerable to rising temperatures. Experts predict all the Peruvian glaciers below 5,500m will disappear by 2015. This is the majority of Peru's glaciers. jaybird found this for you @ 13:14 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
The Pentagon is looking for a few good bloggers Jesus' General gets an inquiry from CENTCOMedy: I am a Public Affairs Officer writing from US Central Command. I would like to inquire about the possibility of you posting a link to our web site. I see that you are covering a lot of different types of stories in a lot of countries. I would like to get some of the stories out that are happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa. This is the area of responsibility for CENTCOM. Due to the nature of your blog, and the wide variety of information you cover, your blog is ideal for news stories. I have attached a couple of postings* that have been used by other Bloggers, please let me know. Hilarity ensues, via amberglow on mefi. jaybird found this for you @ 09:08 in Blogosphere, Tech & Internet | | permalink
Pride: The Great Queers of History    For example: Harmodius and Aristogiton (6th cent. BC)... Lovers famous for overthrowing the tyrant Hipparchus in 527 BCE, thereby inaugurating Athenian democracy. Celebrated for their mutual devotion and love of liberty. Many statues of the pair survive. jaybird found this for you @ 20:39 in Gay, Lesbian, Queer & Free | | permalink
Way of the Sufi: Pakistan's mystical Islam thrives The mystical form of Islam espoused by Sufi saints for hundreds of years continues to thrive in Pakistan despite opposition from religious hardliners and the authorities. As the sun sets on a Thursday evening, hundreds of working class people descend on a shrine to the eighth-century mystic, Abdullah Shah Ghazi, in Karachi. The shrine is located on a hill in the upmarket Clifton district of Pakistan's financial capital, flanked by swanky shopping malls and the posh residential area of Defence. In the grounds below the shrine gather electricians, plumbers, construction workers, vagabonds, transvestites, prostitutes. Encircled by a cheering crowd, men take turns in a weightlifting competition. Another circle dances to the drumbeat of the shrine's dhol players. Devotional singing, or "qawali", emanates from an enclosure adjacent to the open grounds, yet another crowd swaying under its spell... jaybird found this for you @ 16:32 in Spirituality, Religion & Mythos | | permalink
The Venerable Robert Anton Wilson: Premature Illumination "Faith-based organizations say we don't need any more research, we know enough now, we can be dogmatic, whereas researchers say we don't know enough now, investigate, research," argues Wilson. "Faith is a reason to become stupid: 'From this point forward, I will remain stupid.' To me, faith-based organizations are responsible for everything I see wrong with this planet. Research-based organizations are responsible for everything I like about it. Before the French Revolution, the average life expectancy was 37 years. Now it's 78 years. All due to research-based organizations. Not at all due to faith-based organizations. All faith-based organizations give you is George Bush. Research-based organizations give you cures for disease." jaybird found this for you @ 12:23 in Authors, Books & Words | | permalink
Our quaint lil' mountain tremblor A magnitude 3.8 earthquake shook parts of Western North Carolina Wednesday night, rattling homes and residents across the mountains. It was quite the event in apartment D, home of jaybird. From a light sleep, I darted right up off the couch as I felt "the Earth move under my feet," minus the "sky come tumblin' down." There was a slight rumbling sound, and I could also head the downstairs neighbors running around in frenzy. The vibration rate was very high, and I'm very embarrassed to say but my first comic thought was that our rolling mountains had employed the use of a gargantuan 'personal massager' to kindle their late summer passions. Ursula the cat stood in place also, both of us looking toward the door, but neither moving. The equivalent human expression on her mug would've been 'huh?'. Again, another glorious reminder that we are indeed planet-bound, and are subject to the whims and whimsies of our host, as she hurls through space and is governed in her spinning by eddies of molten rock and the silent shifting of continents, much as a dancer's veils will billow... jaybird found this for you @ 08:10 in Local- Western North Carolina | | permalink
earthquake!
Magnitude 3.8 jaybird found this for you @ 23:31 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
Remember entropy is the trend towards disorder that dominates the simpler processes of light, particles, atoms, and simple molecules. Reductionistic science is insensitive to ‘wholes’, synergy and syntropy. Syntropy is the trend towards order that dominates the more complex processes of complex molecules, plants, animals, and humans. Remember further that while entropy dominates simpler processes syntropy is found at every level of process. And while syntropy dominates complex processes, entropy is found at every level of process. Reductionistic science focuses on ‘parts’ and not on ‘wholes’. Purpose is found in the ‘wholes’ and not in the ‘parts’. Reductionistic science is blind to purpose. Evolution is a synergic phenomenon, however it was discovered and first described by Darwin, Wallace, Spencer, and Huxley. These classical scientists were of course time-binders and also bound in time. They lived and thought in the 19th century when reductionistic science ruled. The belief that purpose cannot be found in universe is a reductionistic error that persists even today... jaybird found this for you @ 20:08 in Spirituality, Religion & Mythos | | permalink
Picture an amoeba propelling itself sluggishly in a pond. It inadvertently approaches the inlet from the local paper mill. The water is becoming too warm and growing acid. It reflexively changes direction to avoid the threat. A conscious act? Arguably, but it is nonetheless a demonstration of a degree of consciousness. But what is the heart of this consciousness? Is it in the capacity to react? Is it the ability to choose an alternative? It's easy to get lost in intellectualizing this issue. But if we use the simple idea that consciousness is relationship the question becomes much clearer and the meaning for our lives becomes evident. The amoeba is in relationship to its environment. It has enough of a sense of its own beingness that it recognizes when this relationship is more or less nurturing and within its capacities attempts to fulfill its needs, or avoid threat. If consciousness is relationship, then considering the evolution of consciousness from a "lower" to a "higher" state is really to ask about a growing capacity for relationship. But in terms that really matter to us as ordinary people, isn't this really our growing capacity for intimacy? Yes intimacy, our capacity for emotional closeness, our capacity to feel connection or lack of connection. This is primarily intimacy with ourselves, a knowledge of how our minds work, an ever deepening comfort with our bodies and our feeling nature. More importantly intimacy is acceptance, a profound acceptance of ourselves. And none of us can reach such acceptance without simultaneously being challenged and opened by relationship with others. Higher consciousness is profound relationship, a deep sense of connection with and compassion for other people and ultimately our world. For all the ways we intellectualize and mystify enlightenment, isn't it true that those who we acknowledge as enlightened are individuals who bring us a deeper understanding of ourselves and a greater sense of relationship with each other? [via community of minds] jaybird found this for you @ 16:03 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
At the border of the Tocantins River in Brazil, on the outskirts of the Amazon rainforest, fourteen indian tribes competed in the First Traditional Indian Games of Pará (I Jogos Tradicionais Indigenas do Pará). From 15–20 June 2004, 470 indian men, women and children played ancient and modern games, such as soccer, archery, spear throwing, tug–of–war, canoeing, swimming and running. Some gave stunning demonstrations of traditional sports played only by their own tribes, like the tree–log relay race of the Gavião indians, where men carry 200–pound (90 kilogram) logs on their back, or the hockey sport of the Kayapo indians called Ronkrã. What should one expect from such an event? An Amazon carnival? A beautiful parade of feathers and body–painting? A thrilling competition between “real” athletes trained by the jungle? Or a simple portrait of people trying to find their place in the world? More than a sports event, it was an opportunity for the daily audience of 3,000 to see how Brazil’s indians are struggling to relate to modern society and each other – protecting their own culture as they assimilate to urban life. [via mefi] jaybird found this for you @ 11:56 in Culture, People & Customs | | permalink
Ecological activists need not repeat the same errors committed by the old left which emphasized issues of quantitative need over matters of qualitative desire. Marx believed that a universal condition of material need caused all social strife and injustice. Accordingly, Marx asserted tha |
I was woken from a particularly early sleep by a strange vibration... it seemed as if the house was getting a Swedish massage. I discounted it for a few minutes until I decided to see for myself and behold: