Bruce Eisner's Vision Thing

Wisdom 2.0 Summit Mt. View, CA April 30 - May1st -- Where the Wise Guys (and Gals) of Silcon Valley Gather

Link for this Post: Wisdom 2.0 Summit, Mt. View, CA

We knew that search engine advertising and Social Software sales could make you rich. But until now, we did not know that those revenues could equal wisdom.

After all the name Google is pretty close to God in the English Lexicon and you can play the Zen Enlightenment game on Facebook  . . . but I thought that was a scam. Until I got an email from Mallika Chopra telling me about Wisdom 2.0 to be held in Mountain View California at the Computer History Museum April 30 to May 1st.

Who is Maillika Chopra? Deepak Chopra’s daughter it turns out. We know what an enlightened guy he is, after all he is on the Larry King Show at least once a month. She is also a friend of the late Michael Jackson, someone who was practically synonymous with wisdom.

Memes for Making A New Culture -- A Work in Progress Part 1

In my post in November about my mother’s passing Remembering My Mother, I related about how a dream at age four provided as way of thinking about those early years of my life, the ones that hardly anyone remembers anything about.

I am going to be 62 in February and so I have gone through a lot of my life, much of which seemed like endless mid-life crises and reached maturity. In terms of The 12 Stages of Life by Bruce Carnahan, I have arrived at Stage 9 called which he calls Reflection.

I was at a New Years party last night put by my DJ friend EROCx1. He’s 34 and most of his friends are in their mid-thirties. Shortly after the clock hit 12, I talked one one of those friend who I had met a another of Eric’s parties exactly a year before, “That year sure went by fast. “ He replied, “yeah they seem to go by faster and faster every year.”

This is the secret that all of those of us who have reached “maturity” share. We experience each day we live now as somehow feeling the equivalent of an hour when we were in our mid-twenties. The days fall off the calendar the way that they do in a film montage that shows the days and years passing by ever faster.

Brainz: Greymatter at Its Best Lives Up to Its Name

Link for this Post: Brainz: Greymatter at Its Best

It strains creadabity to read such a ... brain bulging title. The webmaster must have swelled head as well, you think to yourself.

when you read the title but the site delivers and keeps on delivering."What does it deliver?" you ask, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, I answer succinctly, "Its got top lists -- lots and lots of top lists."

High-tech Paganism-Digital Polytheism By Timothy Leary on Spiral Nature

Link for this Post: Load and Run High-tech Paganism-Digital Polytheism by Timothy Leary and Eric Gullichsen republished on Spiral Nature

An excerpt from this rough-draft essay originally part of an unpublished book by Tim.

The Personal Mythology

So you search and research your very own genetic memory banks, the Old Testaments of your DNA-RNA, including, if you like, past incarnations and Jungian archetypes. And funky pre- incarnations in any future you can imagine!

You write your very own Newest Testament, recalling that voluntary martyrdom is tacky and crucifixions, like nuclear war, can ruin your day.

You can do anything the great religions, empires and racial groups have done in the name of their God #1. and you’re certain to do it better because… well, look at their track records. There’s no way your Personal State could produce the persecutions, massacres and bigotries of the Big Guys.

Obama as Superhero -- Video

Link is video below

After having a President who launched the careers of more comedians than any other in history, at the beginning of his Presidency, Barack Obama appeared to be a bit harder as satiric muse. However, now that he is becoming more familiar to the us, that has changed.

As the Jib Jab web animation below shows, the direction of the humor has taken a refreshing new direction.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

The Psychedelic Conspiracy

Links for this Post:

The Aquarian Conspiracy Sex Drugs and Rock 'N Roll by Lyndon LaRusche; (first published in

The Aquarian Conspiracy: Fact or Fiction on Bible Believers

Psychedelic Alchemy on the Occult of Personality Blog

Unlike my now departed friend Robert Anton Wilson, I've never been a fan of occulture or conspiracy theories (although I think that Wilson was more a dilettante than a believer in such matters.

The reason I do not think much of conspiracy theories is that conspiracy is really not part of human nature. Humans are have too much competitiveness and too little intelligence for elaborate conspiracies. We are lucky enough if two or three people show up for lunch on time.

My opinion of occultism is similarly skeptical. Cults are just miniature religions. Just like religion, they require you adopt a fixed set of beliefs. Timothy Leary in his 1982 book Changing My Mind Among Others

The word religion beautifully defines itself, of course. It means "to bind" from the Latin re(back) and ligare (to tie up).. All religions are straight jackets, jackets for the straight.

The conspiracy theorists forge that nobody has spoken out about the dangers of totalitarian world order than Huxley. Take a look at the this video  interview of Huxley my CBS's Michael Wallace which I posted here.

Rush Limbaugh: Cheerleader for Failure -- Video

Link for this Post: Media Matters: Rush Limbaugh: Who's Calling the Shots (see embedded video below)

Back in the early Nineties, the first harbingers of what was to come in the form of George W. Bush and his eight years reign of blunders appeared. It was the rise of Right-Wing talk radio with Rush Limbaugh the most prominent member.

Limbaugh and his clan sowed the seeds that grew into George W. Bush.  "W" as he came affectionately be called, methodically destroyed America's image in the world by railing against the Axis of evil, launching a war against one of them, Iraq and turning our image into the world into that of a bunch of torturing militarist bullies.

Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction but after the invasion, it was too late to turn back.  For the rest of the Bush administration and until the present day, we spent Billions of dollars rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure while our own infrastructure crumbled.

Barack Obama has been in office less than a month and Limbaugh has put words to what most would think would remain secret thoughts. What is he thinking?

His hope appears to be that Obama will fail in turning the direction we have been moving in around.

The Sarah Palin National Anthem (Armageddon Annie)

Links for this Post:

Ralph Buckley Website

Sarah Palin National Anthem embedded below

Among the many comments on his website comes one from a woman named Quetzie MacDonald. She says:

A breath of fresh air is Ralph Buckley...an excellent musician with an important message. Keep it coming, we need more musicians like you. Thank you!! Hey; I'm a major groupy now...LOL

Here is his latest and funniest song so far.

When John McCain Wins -- Palin to Do Fireside Chats

Link for this Post: John McCain's Fireside Chat (By Sara Palin)

Back in the last Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt comforted the country with his radio fireside chats. When John McCain wins the Election, he is said to be planning the periodic Fireside Chats but using his fast-talking VP. Go to the link at the top of this post to hear how one might sound.

The Democratic Primaries in Retrospect -- Young Hillary on YouTube

Link for this Post: Embedded Youtube Video Below

If your like me and you started following the Democratic Presidential Primaries 16 meths ago, the process turned out to be a lot longer and lot more agonizing then I could have imagined.  Hillary Clinton's"suspension "of her campaign this weekend with Washington D.C. motorcade  followed by her "historical" speech" was also long and agonizing. The followig YouTube video done with actual footage from Hillary as a young girl (jk) offers a humorous retrospect.

Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher 1996 TV Show on Google Video - Topics LSD and Timothy Leary with guest Robert Anton Wilson

Link embedded below: Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher 1996 TV Show on Google Video. Topics include LSD and Timothy Leary with guest Robert Anton Wilson

As readers of Vision Thing know, I'm a big fan of Bill Maher and LSD (back in the old days when you could get the good stuff). I'm also was an old friend of the late author Robert Anton Wilson.

I never watched Politcially Incorrect back then but was happy to find this old episode. It was supposed to be a show featuring Timothy Leary and his friends. Unfortunatly, Leary could not appear on the show because he was close to death.

Interestingly, Maher points out that Leary talked about the problem people face getting the good stuff. The complete descripton from Google Video:

Politically Incorrect with host Bill Maher discusses LSD and Timothy Leary with guests Robert Anton Wilson (last minute fill-in for an ill Leary), Michelle Phillips, David Cross, and Bob Guccione Jr

You can watch the video by clicking on the image above.

Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising FREE eBook Download

Link for this Post:  Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising.

Robert Anton Wilson passed on last year but his ideas live on in large number of books, essays and interviews. Prometheus Risingwas one of his most influential books during his life and now has been made available to the public in an online version.

Prometheus Rising introduced Timothy Leary's  8 Circuit Model of Consciousness to a much wider audience than Leary himself in any of his books on the subject.

Much as Russian Philosopher P. D. Ouspensky explained in more simple words and thus popularized the work of his teacher mystic George Gurdjieff, Robert Anton Wilson does in this book with the ideas of Leary.

Here is how Wikipedia describes Prometheus Rising:

Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson is a guide book of "how to get from here to there", an amalgam of Timothy Leary's 8-circuit model of consciousness, Gurdjieff's self-observation exercises, Alfred Korzybski's general semantics, Aleister Crowley's magical theorems, Sociobiology, Yoga, Christian Science, relativity, and quantum mechanics amongst other approaches to understanding the world around us. It claims to be a short book (nearly 300 pages) about how the human mind works and how to get the most use from one. Wilson describes it as an "owner's manual for the human brain".

I first found the book in the public domain on Scribed which allows you to read the book on line or download it as a PDF with free registration at the link at the top of this post. It is also available with no registration via the Fans of Robert Anton Wilson webite as a PDF download (click here).

You Can't Make This Up - Mark Halperin on the Presidential Race in Time Magazine

Link for This Post: You Can't Make This Up -- Time Magazine Saturday May 3, 2008 by Mark Halperin

The last couple of months of the long grueling polical race has gotten me a bit down. This short little piece in Time Magazine managed to raise a smile however.  After the running of the Kentucky Derby, Halperin posted:

Hillary Clinton enthusiastically picked a filly named Eight Belles to win the Kentucky Derby and compared herself to the horse. Eight Belles finished second. The winner was the favorite, Big Brown.

Eight Belles collapsed immediately after crossing the finish line, and was euthanized shortly thereafter.

No matter with your for Hillary or Barack, you have to smile at that one.

The case against Hillary Clinton. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

Link for this Post: The case against Hillary Clinton. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

The tile of the article "The Case Against Hillary Clinton Why on earth would we choose to put the Clinton family drama at the center of our politics again? By Christopher Hitchens: sums up my feelings about the current election.

Are 7% of the best science books about drugs? -- Blogging Heads

Links for this Post:

Are 7% of the best science books about drugs? -- Blogging Heads

The Stevens Seventy Greatest Science Books

Combining video blogging with traditional posts, this amusing exchange between 'blogging heads" is worth a view.

The list of great science book is definitely ideosynchratic, as John Horgan (the guy with the blue-tinged hair) of the "Stevens Center for Science Writing" suggests (with maniacal laugh).

I don't want to ruin your experience by writing more so check out the video via the top link.

Space Squid: Earth's Worst Sci-Fi And Humor 'Zine

Links for this Post:

Space Squid: Earth's Worst Sci-Fi And Humor 'Zine

Space Squid's Squidcast

Squids have become a popular archetype of the web recently, with Squidoo and now with Space Squid. I suppose I'm a sucker for a fun cover but there is more than just the cover in this case.

This zine has had three issues and also regular podcasts. ---  Space Squid's Squidcast

Check out both via the links at the top of this post.

I found the site when someone from the zine commented on one of my posts. Enjoy!

You Need to get Irrelgion

Link for this Post: Irreelgion.Org "Your Last Stop Before Eternal Enlightenment"

Ever since the fundamentalist movement which hit the planet sometime in the Seventies, the acts and ideas of fundamentalists of  various religions and creeds have become increasingly absurd
Now there is a website that keeps you up on their latest absurdities.

The folks at irreligion.org tunes you into the latest fundamentalist news and gossip -- from closeted Gay right-wing Republicans to scholars studying Flying Spaghetti Monsters to Georgia governor's praying for rain.

Such is the world we live in.

Are Psychedelics Google’s Biggest Trade Secret?

Link for this Post: Reality Sandwich  Google and the Myceliation of Consciousness.

I'm not sure if this article is irrefutable proof of the idea that psychedelics are Google’s biggest trade secret but the author RoseRose has a gift for blarney second only to her hero Terrence McKenna. Here is a lengthy but only partial snip from this Reality Sandwich serving.

Incarcerex the Cure for Political Impotency YouTube Video

Link for this post Embedded Youtube Video Incarcerex: It's Time for a New Bottom Line by the Drug Policy Foundation

This video came my way via the Entheogenic Reformation blog

Ghosts of Tim Leary and Hunter Thompson by Joe Bageant

Link for this Post:Death By Digitalized Celebrity: Ghosts of Tim Leary and Hunter Thompson" by Joe Bageant.

Note: the image to the left is from Joe's post.

I have to thank my friend Will Penna for sending me this amusing piece by Joe Bagent. Here is an expert from the beginning of his post:

In my ragged assed 40 years of writing, I've been lucky enough -- or sometimes unlucky enough -- to meet and write about many of America's "somebodies," mostly vapid asshole

Get a First Life

Link for this post:: Get a First Life

Have you been spending too much time in virtual commerece at Second Life.  I know more that one of you fits that descGet a First Life has a message for you.

Site by Lazy Mof

Link Via The Golden Sparrow Awards

 

Get a New Brain for Cheap at the Brain Warehouse -- Video

Link for this Post: Brain Warehouse: Watch Brain TV

I found this amusing UK anti-drug site by way of the Mind Hacks blogs. Here is an excerpt of what they say about this site:

The UK government have launched a campaign to warn 11-15 year-olds about the dangers of cannabis, using an ironic and lighthearted website and advert.

They're both based around the concept of a high-street retailer for new brains. Teenagers who have trouble with their brains due to cannabis use can trade theirs in for new models.

These include the 'Freakout-Free X50' (Free yourself from paranoid freakouts once and for all with this little beauty!) and the 'Spewstopper' (Whether smoking a spliff or a bong, say no to embarrassing puking sessions!).

The comical tone is obviously meant to connect with teenagers who are immune, on principal, to dire warnings about partaking in illegal drugs.

Two UK mental health charities have criticized the adverts for not warning about the more extreme and unlikely outcomes of cannabis use (such as schizophrenia) and even for potentially increasing the popularity of cannabis.

Actually, it seems that the adverts are focusing much more on the short-term unpleasant effects, perhaps, as these are the least socially acceptable among teenagers.

So if your looking for a new brain, look no furthur.

Forbes.com Is Sex Necessary? -

Link: Is Sex Necessary? - Forbes.com.

Yesterday I posted about the hot new aphrodisiac heading for market. Today we look at sex from a different perspective. Forbes.Com asks "Is Sex Necessary/"

Have A Computer Write Your Essay

Link for this Post: Have A Computer Write Your Essay at EssayGenerator.Com

Yes it's true! All you need to do is put your subject into the blue box on EssayGenerator.Com and it spits out an essay of better quality than the average college student can write.

You can trust my judgement on this because I was a teaching assistant for two years at UCSB and had to read sometimes up to 200 essay tests at a time.

Daily Kos's Markos Moulitsas Zúniga on HBO TV Show Real Time with Bill Maher

Links for this Post:

Bill Maher The Official Site

The Daily Kos

HBO Show: Real Time with Bill Maher

Markos Moulitsas Zúniga.of the Daily Kos was brought in by Satellite and the subject of a humor interview and interesting conversation with Bill Maher on his first night back on his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher. If you subscribe to HBO or know someone who does, the interchange between the two makes watching the entire show worthwhile. I have to warn you that you might hurt yourself if you are an exuberant laugher.

Transform Your Blog or Website into Web 2.0 ... Almost Instantly!

Link for this Post: Transform Your Blog or Website into Web 2.0 ... Almost Instantly!

The phrase "Web 2.0" has become the sexiest term in the Geek vocabulary these days.

With a nod to the magical thinking which all of use have a bit of, visit this link and find out how easy it is to go Web 2.0 with your website or blog using this completely free online application.. I've done it and now you can too!

Special thanks for Populicio.us for the link

Dead 2.0 "Anti-Hypes" Web 2.0

Link for this Post: Dead 2.0 Anti-hyping Web 2.0 since 2006!

I found this site as one of the fastest rising sites on the web by way of of Alexa Movers and Shakers (which change every so often so by the time you read this, Dead 2.0 might not be on the list anymore).

The site takes a somewhat irreverent approach to the rise of Web 2.0 and even manages to sneak in some humor along with the sarcasm.

As Online Ads Grow, Eyeballs Are Valuable Again on the Web -- New York Times

Link for this post: "As Online Ads Grow, Eyeballs Are Valuable Again on the Web" by Bob Tedeschi, New York Times.

I've had two websites since 1995 and I've noticed that traffic is defiantly increasing on both sites.. My site Mind Media was once of the first commercial websites that sold products and Island Web is the longest continuing counterculture site still around.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the Times piece:

THE great eyeball chase is back in full swing. And it does not matter that the eyeballs may not be buying anything. With online advertising revenues growing quickly, new information-rich sites of all kinds are mushrooming across the Web.

Sites devoted to big-ticket purchases — particularly cars, real estate and travel — are feverishly refining features and marketing strategies in an effort to attract the growing number of consumers searching the Web for buying advice. Unlike sites like Amazon.Com they do not actually sell any products, but they make a good living selling ads to deep-pocketed companies that do.

     *******************************************************

But playing a big part in TripAdvisor's success, and that of other editorially focused sites, is Google. The search giant greatly accelerated the adoption of so-called pay-per-click text ads, which generate revenue both for Google and for the site where the ad appears. TripAdvisor began displaying the ads in late 2001, to sudden and great effect. According to Ms. Johnson of Forrester, that is the most important element in the resurgence of media sites. Good timing, she said, has been critical.

"The thing the older sites did well was stay alive long enough for the rise of Google," she said. "They got hit by a pitch."

So I guess I'm on first base. Now all I need is someone to double me home -- or have the pitcher balk three times.

A Cracked Guide to Futuristic Super Drugs

Link for this post: A Cracked Guide to Futuristic Super Drugs at Cracked.Com

When I was a kid back in the last century, I read a lot of comic books (age 5-8). A year or so later, I was reading Mad Magazine and its sometimes funnier competitor Cracked. So while trolling for news on the blog, Theories, Predictions, Opinions & Other Nonsense I discovered Cracked.Com which leads with this funny little piece on Futuristic Super Drugs. Of course among them was a non-pharmacological "drug" from future called the Orb in the Woody Allen's 1973 sci-fi farce, Sleeper.

Among the other drugs covered in the spoof are "milk spiked with vellocet and synthemesc" from Clockwork Orange and "Ephemerol" from scanners. Appropriately the article includes on its menu of futuristic movie intoicants the Cracked Magazine sound-alike -- plain old fashioned "crack."

Jack Shafer on Slate.Com: What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Note: Photo above is by Linda Davidson of the Washington Post

Links for this post:

What's the Story, Morning Glory? The Washington Post takes another bad drug trip. By Jack Shafer on Slate

A '60s Buzz Recycled: Teens Rediscover Morning Glories Can Be Used as a Hallucinogen By Theresa Vargas

On a slow Memorial Day Weekend, I enjoyed this story by Jack Shafter taking a jab at a Washington Post staff writer's story about the "rediscovery" of the morning glory seed as the source of a natural "trip." Since my first psychedelic experience was catalyzed by those seeds with names like Heavenly Blue and Pearly Gates, I took notice that the world has come full circle. Or has it?

Shafer points out:

The very likely possibility that morning glory seeds never disappeared from the drug subculture—that kids have been stealing packets of seeds and getting blasted on them for four decades running—doesn't occur to Vargas. Why? Perhaps because few editors would assign "Kids Still Experimenting With Morning Glory Seeds," and even fewer reporters would want to write it.

Morning glory seeds and other legal highs are so routinely consumed in our culture that the "Ads by Google" box on the first page of the Washingtonpost.com version of Vargas' story touts "Organic Morning Glories: Natural seeds, three varieties from the ethnobotanical superstore."

The entire article has to be read to fully appreciate Shafer's piece which can be found here.

I'm The Decider (Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo)

Link for this post: I'm The Decider.

This morning while watching CNN, there was feature on the amused public reaction around the use by George W. Bush of the term, "I'm the decider" while talking about his Defense Secretary's status.

I had watched Bush's statements  speaking about the controversy around Rumsfeld live several days ago and they had struck me as simultaneously arrogant and stupid. But I could not put my finger on exactly it was about it that lead to strong impression.

Well now I know. It was his use of a phrase which is perfectly good English, "I'm the decider" but which is usually put as, "I'm the decision maker."

They had a short portion "I'm the Decider (Koo-Koo Ka-Choo)" but the full version is the way to go.

We're All a Bunch of Dancing Monkeys

Link for this post:Dancing Monkeys by Ernest Cline

When I was younger, I thought the humans were pretty impressive creatures and capable of knowing a lot of things. I devoured book, studied philosophy and had learned discussions.

As I gained experience, i began to realize how little we really do know. Even more than how little we know, how silly and pretentious we are as a species. Lately I've been given to reciting a rap about how were really just a bunch of smart (or at least we think we're smart) monkeys.

So a friend who has heard this rap more than once sent me this Quicktime presentation Dancing Monkeys by Ernest Kline does a good job of communicating some of my perhaps imperfectly articulated thoughts about how we might be seen my more intelligent creatures somewhere down the line of evolution or perhaps in some other part of the universe might see us.

Click here to watch the "movie."

Inventions and Ideas from Science Fiction Books and Movies at Technovelgy.com

Link: Inventions and Ideas from Science Fiction Books and Movies at Technovelgy.com.

The site has an FAQ that explains its name:

What does "technovelgy" mean and how do you pronounce it?

Okay, here's the deal. First of all, it's pronounced tek novel gee. My first explanation for this name is that all the good domain names were taken by 1997.

The second explanation is that "Technovelgy" is a combination of the words "technology" and "novel." For those keeping track of such things, the word "novel" can refer to a book; it can also refer to something new or unique. And aren't science fiction novels filled with fictional ideas and technologies that are new and unique? So, there you go.

What do you find on the site? Basically a lot of inteventions, gadgets and new science thingies that come from the realm of speculative fiction. They even have a timeline of when the new technologies come into existence along with their source in the literature. A fun which you can subscribe to by RSS.

Post by way of Nerdshit.

The Rise of Big Google -- TechCrunch "Google Drive: What we know so far"

Link for this post: TechCrunch Google Drive: What we know so far.

I've been following the Google story from time to time here on Vision Things. Previous posts have includes such memorable favorites such as

• When I Die, I Want To Go Up To That Google in the Sky
• EPIC 2015 Googlezon Updated
• The Soul of Google

TechCrunch has evoked the "G" name again with their gossipy  story of the plans for the Big Google Drive. Here is an excerpt:

In the spring of 2004 Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson presented the ominous Epic 2014 (now renamed Epic 2015) that ultimately predicts that Google will force the New York Times to shut down. In the movie, they also predict that Google will launch something called “Google Grid”: “…a universal platform offering an unlimited amount of space and bandwidth that can be used to store anything. It allows users to manage their information two ways: store it privately or publish it to the entire grid.” See the movie here.

Robin and Matt’s Google Grid prediction seems to be well on its way to becoming reality. On March 2, 2006 (a few days ago), Google hosted an analyst day and presented a wide range of information on new products and strategies. Among the information was a description of the upcoming “Google Drive”, a place for users to store 100% of their data online.

Read the rest at TechCrunch

The Ballad Of The Skeletons Music by Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass & Paul McCartney -- Free Download Updated

Updated: Video of Allen Ginsberg performing the Ballad of the Skeltons at AllenGinsberg.Org

Links for this post:

The Ballad Of The Skeletons Music by Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass & Paul McCartney -- Free Download  at the Lorto Martin Time is Art blog.

The Ballad Of The Skeletons, all five tracks of it is available by Rapid Share download at this link.

Track information and credits at this link

The courageous words of master poet Allen Ginsbert written ten years ago as appropriate as if they had been written today. The power and courage of these sometimes amusing and other times powerfully passionate songs seems lacking these days.

Welcome to Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit

Link for this post: Welcome to Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia has a humous alter-ego called Uncyclopedia. Here is some of what Uncyclopedia offers up about itself:

About: Unicyclopedia is the official encyclopedia of Unicycles. It has all the information on unicycles that you will ever need. (But if you ever need any more, you can just add it because it's a wiki.) Unicyclopedia is a place for unicycle enthusiasts to share all their greatest unicycle secrets! Go 1 Wheelers!!!

Uncyclopedia is an encyclopedia full of misinformation and utter lies. You might say it puts the "psych!" in "encyclopedia". It's sort of like Congress or Parliament, but unlike Congress or Parliament, we do have a sense of humor. Nonetheless, this is one of the only factual pages, before everything turns into a puddle of utter confusion and disarray. Savor it. And for the love of Sophia we know you like disarray, (and confusion) but stop adding confusion to this non-confusing page which leads to confusion, and possibly disarray. Which we wish to stop. Non-non-confusion, that is. Not disarray. Or is the other way around?

Sarcasm. The Uncyclopedia is the greatest achievement of mankind at the height of his splendor. The Philistines believe that the whole universe sprung into being just so that in one particular bit of the multiverse, a group of crazy, up-jumped, ninja-obsessed, hard-drinking monkeys might create the thing you see before you now. No, not your hands. No, that's not it either. Look up at the screen. There. Much better.

So polished is Uncyclopedia that you never see dorky references to science fiction or video gamer jargon that only 13 yr. old boys understand! No siree. This is so cool everyone hangs around for all the funny entries and stupid made up titles because...well, no one really knows why anyone would be so stupid, but it's in the archives, somewhere, under the heading nörtti alert

“I can resist anything but the chance to waste valuable time reading and editing Uncyclopedia”

~ Oscar Wilde on Uncyclopedia

Wikipedia says that Uncyclopedia is a comedic parady of Wikipedia. However Uncyclopedia claims that Wikipedia is a paradoy of it.  Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle,

The Eclectic Boing Boing: Geek porn: a call to arms

Link for this post: "Geek Porn" a call to arms" on Boing Boing

The Boing Boing and Vision Thing  blogs share something in common, we are categorized in Technorati as "eclectic" which I suppose is another way of saying diverse (or maybe just plain weird). However, Boing Boing has reached a new level of weirdness with this post, "Geek porn: a call to arms." Here is an excerpt:

In my kind of porno movies the girls wouldn't even have to get naked.
They'd just take the guys down to the rec room and
beat them repeatedly at chess
and then talk to them for hours about Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
or the underlying social metaphors in the Aliens movies.

Buy stock in some hand cream companies
because there is about to be a major shortage.

And I'm not just talking about straight porn. Oh no.
There should be fuck films for my nerd brethren
of all sexual orientations.
Gay nerd porn flicks with titles like "Dungeons and Drag-queens."

The also offer a download  of a longer track from which this rant is excerpted called 'Nerd Porn Auteur'   if you actually want to hear it. There are also some other spoken word mp3s available from the site of origin by Ernie Cline.

Updated: Sacred Elixirs Confernce to Be Held in San Jose California October 22 to 23 (Timothy Leary's Birthday)

"Sacred Elixirs" looks like a lot of fun! More formally the event is called "Sacred Elixirs: A conference on he role of drug plants in the history of religion," to be held at The Mongomery Theater, San Jose, CA on October 22nd & 23rd, 2005ln. Its amazing how many of my friends will be at this event.

Among them my astral twin Michael Crowley. (astral twin is an astrological concept referring to two people born the same day the same hour within minutes of each other)  Also appearing will be be  Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer, editors of Moksha: Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary experience.

I'm updating this so that people in the Bay Area remember to attend this great event.

Michael was Timothy Leary's archivist. So perhaps its no synchronicity that the event takes place of Timothy's birthday. If he was still around, I might even have gotten invited to the event.

Also among my friends presenting there is Sasha and Ann Shulgin and Ralph Metzner.

Others there who I have made the acquaintance of include Tom Reitlinger, Marlene Dobkin De Rios (met her at Oscar Janiger's at a party for Albert Hofmann twenty years ago), Dale Pendal Clark Heinrich and James Kent from Tripzine.Com.

Last but by no means least among them is my young pal from San Francisco, Clifford Anderson who will be doing some visionary poetry. All of this makes me wish I still lived in Santa Cruz where this all would be a short trip over Highway 17 to San Jose.

Can You Medijate? Trippy Flash Art

Link: Medijate

Medijate or more formally "Medijate Organic Green Spirit Digital Art" by Larry Carlson is some Flash Animated Art worth a visit. Very impressive and psychedelic.

Ning: For Any Social Software -- Build Your Own Take

Link: Ning | Home: Front Page.

Ning is, "free online service (or, as we like to call it, a Playground) for building and using social applications. Social apps are web applications that enable anyone to match, transact, and communicate with other people."

Some examples they give are For Any City -- Your own take on Craigslist

For any Topic -- Your Own take on deli.icio.us

For any Mammal -- Your Own Take on hot or Not

Seems fairly amusing. This comes via TechCrunch.

Retro Thing The Independent Guide to Vintage Tech

Link for this post Retro Thing.

As readers know, while I consider myself futique, the reality is that I am quite retro. Recently I posted "Back to the Retro Future" and  "More Retro: Engadget 1985."

"Retro Thing"is a blog along similar lines, featuring artifacts in a variety of different categories. Not a whole lot yet but it looks like the blog is updating daily.

Strange New Products

Link for this post: "Strange New Products"

Strange New Products is a fun site and unlike similar humorous sites, it is live and growing. In fact you can subscribe to it, here is its Atom Feed. This is what this site says about itself:

This is what Strange New Products is about. It's not necessarily about cool new gadgets (there's plenty of them blogs around). This is about stuff that is totally revolutionary, really weird, corny, ingenious, or completely useless.

Some examples given:

• USB powered coffee mugs
• Interactive cell phone text messaging games
• Marijuana trivia card games

The site is a satirical commentary on the current explosion and popularity of numberless gadget sites as well as our object crazed consumer society.

The End of Death? Conscious Life in Global Cyberspace by Michael Purdy in J. of Conscious Evolution

"The End of Death? Conscious Life in Global Cyberspace" By Michael Purdy is an interesting article in the first issue of The Journal of Conscious Evolution.(just when you started questioning evolution I give you a new intellectual rush).

This piece is a brief essay about the idea of humanity developing a kind of immortality through our minds being transfered to silicon chips: Unlike some of the other references I have posted about, Purdy thinks that this kind of future is a bleak possibility Here is an excerpt from the essay:

What the end of death, life in cyberspace, points to are the ultimate fruits of technological rationality: a life without end, i.e., an infinite lifetime warranty on this product called human life-life without illness or problem. In cyberspace all is plastic and manipulatable-at a whim. The ability to be all-knowing, to be smarter and faster than the limits of the human body are all here; and as a bonus, it all comes at small expense. Chips require very little energy and the usage gets smaller every year.

These are dreams-desires of an abstracted, rational consciousness. These visions of the rational instrumental consciousness are still far from a four dimensional, space-free and time-free existence, and are quite at odds with Gebser's sense of the integral. There is no concretion or integration in life in cyberspace, the dimensionality is limited, and space and time are predefined by the system of operation-the imagination would support these visions of cyberspace, but cosmic (integral) consciousness calls upon us to live an awareness that is present. There is no wholeness, no spirit in putting consciousness on a chip.

We can say, however, that the cyber impulse is cerebral, that the desire is for something spiritual and integrating; that there is a movement toward what is open and free in this thought for immortal existence. There are aspirations (things breathed) here for a life free of hierarchy, class, gender, and open to divinity. I think there is a desire for diaphaneity and wholeness, even if it is not realized. Maybe, future extensions of cyberspace will be more integral; right now it is not cyberspace that is integral, but a human awareness of cyberspace that is striving for the integral.

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives. A. Sachs

I think we can say that the move to gain immortality through life in cyberspace is a failed, if imaginative, project. If possible it would solve the problem of death, but it wouldn't offer much of a life. It might offer immortality but would leave the same wonderful challenge-how to live.

Some of my other posts on this subject are:

Business Week: The Mind Is Immortal

When I Die, I Want To Go Up To That Google in the Sky

As an amusing aside, Perry cites the following quote

"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens" Woody Allen

I don't think I could have said it better.

The Iraqization of the United States: New Orleans Disaster A Failure of Leadership - New York Times

New Orleans disaster was a A Failure of Leadership - New York Times -- Op-Ed by Bob Herbert An excerpt:

"Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead"

Neither the death of the chief justice nor the frantic efforts of panicked White House political advisers can conceal the magnitude of the president's failure of leadership last week. The catastrophe in New Orleans billowed up like the howling winds of hell and was carried live and in color on television screens across the U.S. and around the world.

The Big Easy had turned into the Big Hurt, and the colossal failure of George W. Bush to intervene powerfully and immediately to rescue tens of thousands of American citizens who were suffering horribly and dying in agony was there for all the world to see.

George Bush is presiding over what I call the "Iraqization of the United States". Its almost a kind of national karma that the chaos that we brought upon Iraq is now being visited on us.

Back to the Retro Future

With an interesting mix of nostalgia and futique, Retro Future is a fun site worth a visit. Here is a some excerpts from the site's FAQ:

What is Retrofuture?

The Retrofuture is a concept based on a simple question: what happened to all that futuristic stuff which was supposed to change our lives by the year 2000? Stuff like rocket belts, flying cars, food pills and inflatable homes.

When did this stuff happen?

Back when the year 2000 still evoked images of a perfect future, there was an all-too-brief existential moment when optimism became the order of the day. This was the space age. Before the door forever slammed shut, hundreds of unique dreams and schemes were hatched--each an elaborate attempt to reach an ideal state of being. They all failed. But as they failed something new was born--an imaginary universe called Retrofuture, a place where implausible and unfeasible plans continue to live and thrive, where yesterday's tomorrows are still in our future.

Lots more when you go back to Retro Future.

The Universal Church Of Cosmic Uncertainty -- The Blog

The Universal Church of Cosmic Uncertainty (UCCU) comes via that fine weblog, Ivory Lab. Actually those two blogs belong in the same sentence as they are both literary, albeit with different sensibilities.

The UCCU describes itself as:

"A potentially painful excursion into the unabashedly narcissistic day-to-day ramblings of a severely A.D.D. ubergeek, baker, & fledgling world traveller."

When I read this description, I felt an immediate sense of identification with this blog, in that I could almost describe myself in the same words. Although I don't bake.

Perhaps the most charming aspect of the site is that it really about nothing in particular -- hense its "universality."

Are You Usual or Unusual?

I just took this web test called "Are You Usual or Unusual." I turned out to be "Usual" but it took me by surprise. I'd like people to try this and tell me what they think.

MinJungKim.com - Braindump v 5.0 Lifecycle of Bloggers

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MinJungKim.com - Braindump v 5.0 Lifecycle of Bloggers is a clever piece about the typical stages of evolution that a web log enthusiast may go through. Here is how the blog's author, Korean born  Min Jung Kim:

Lifecycle of Bloggers

Having blogged in one form or fashion for the last 6 years or so (not including personal journals that I’ve written in, on paper even, with crayon even, since I was six years old), allow me to personally provide you with a rundown on the lifecycle that I’ve observed from personal bloggers.

She then goes through fourteen distinct blogging states. Here is a couple to sample the mix:

#5. You faux “retire” from blogging.
Having temporarily exhausted the emotional reservoir from which your personal blog has released, you post about retiring. Or a vacation. Or a hiatus. Or a sabbattacal. You say this will be permanent. Or last a month.

#6. You cave back into blogging in less than 72 hours.
You candy pants blogging crack addict.

Makes for humerous reading with occational nodding recognition of yourself at a stage. The link is here so enjoy.

Seeing Green on Saint Paddy's Day With Timothy Leary

Updated:As today is Saint Patrick's Day, I thought I'd spark a little bit of the old Irish green by remembering that Irishman who "kissed the Blarney Stone" Timothy Leary.

Here are a few good links to things Leary:

A good collection of Leary links can be found on Increasingintelligence.Com -- Sean Kearny's site on all things about increasing intelligence.

There is a nice repository of Tim's writing on American Buddha, a variety of essays including one perhaps appropriate for today, The "Heresy of Saint Timothy." I wonder if one day we might be celebrating a day by that name in some appropriately joyous fashion.

Dimitri on Deoxy has made some changes to his tribute to Dr. Timothy Leary.

Russ McClay a friend of Tim's during his Brotherhood of Eternal Love Days remembers him on his long standing Tao Lodge site.

Recently I published a short story that Tim and I wrote together on New World Disorder -- http://www.newworlddisorder.ca/issuethree/fictions/lovelights.html.

So have a really Leary Saint Paddy's day!

Brainboost Helps You Question Everything

Brainoost is an engine of a different color. According to its FAQ,

How is Brainboost different from existing engines like Google?

Brainboost is an answer engine whereas Google is a Search engine. What that means is that Brainboost actually finds answers to your questions posed in plain English as opposed to directing you to pages that simply mention the questions.

You can read more of the sexy tech details on the site. The question (no pun intended) is: Does it work? So the first thing I did to kick Brainboost's tires was ask it: was, "Does Brainboost really work?" Its answer:

We are pleased to work with Brainboost and to use their elaborate question /answering engine in our proof - of - concept test bed of the next - generation intelligent information retrieval facility. 
 
http://www.techweb.com/printablePressrelease.jhtml?articleID=X301383&CompanyId=         3         [Read More]

Whereas Search engines force users to spend time scouring for an answer by tediously reading through search results, Brainboost does this work for the user by automatically reading hundreds of search results and extracting just those precious answers to the users question..             http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050308/nytu163_1.html       [Read More]

 The articles are actually pretty spot on but I can't sayh the same thing about Brainboost's English.  Since they must have anticipated questions like that, I decided to try something another question, something harder. So I asked it the old zen koan, "What is the sound of one hand clapping? Brainboost took a little longer thinking than the previous question and that spat out a page full of text. I three of the responses to illustrate the diversity and nature of  Brainboost's replies:

Re your recent discussion, the sound of one hand clapping is, as any true friend of Jimmy Rockford can tell you, the sound of a slap in the face.. 
                        http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_049         [Read More]                     

When the boundaries of perception have been removed, and the sound of one hand clapping is understood, God outside of self no longer exists . When the boundaries of perception have been removed, and the sound of one hand clapping is understood God no longer exists . because one is no longer victim to the senses, and the nature of the senses are understood..http://anunda.com/wisdom/zen.htm                               [Read More]

       
• I would posit that the sound of one hand     clapping is the stolen election 2004..    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     the absence of audio from TV news and their non - reporting of the     aforementioned stolen election..    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     the silence of the American people and the deaths of 100,000+ innocent Iraqi     people..    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     the criminal corruption of the United States Congress.    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     the "morals and values" vote. I also find the morals and values commentary     to be ludicrous in the extreme..    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     Senator John McCain and his selling out of the American people.    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     the use of weapons of mass destruction on the people of Fallujah.    
• Finally, I would posit that the sound of one hand     clapping is George W Bush. Our not so noble beady eyed president..    
• I would posit that the sound of one hand clapping is     the voices that Buckaroo hears in his head..    
• The sound of one hand clapping is.SLAP! Take that     America and you had better like it.http://www.unknownnews.net/041211d-07dn.html         [Read More]      

Watch out Google, Brainboost is a poet!