Archive for October, 2009
Nature Illustrations From Chernobyl
Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, 65, is a Swiss-born scientific illustrator who spent 25 years working in the scientific department of the Natural History Museum at the Unibersity of Zurich.
Since 1967, she has visited 25 nuclear sites around the world, most notably Chernobyl, after disaster struck in 1986. Her work meticulously depicts the deformed mutant insects and other creatures found in radioactive zones. Her large body of illustrations are disturbing yet beautiful, as noted in Fast Company.
Goldman Sachs Gives $23 Billion In 2009 Bonuses
The New York Times‘ Dealbook reports that Goldman Sachs will give its employees bonuses totaling $23 billion at the end of 2009, the largest sum ever, and double what Goldman workers received for 2008.
“Compensation continues to generate controversy and anger…And, in many respects, much of it is understandable and appropriate,” says Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs. (If people are viscerally upset, perhaps it’s because of the $10 billion which taxpayers loaned to Goldman a year ago, via the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Assets Relief Program.)
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Ever Dream This Man?
Every night throughout the world hundreds of people dream about this face.
WEIRD. This is like something out of Twin Peaks. Or a Todd Barry comedy routine.
from thisman.org
HISTORY
In January 2006 in New York, the patient of a well-known psychiatrist draws the face of a man that has been repeatedly appearing in her dreams. In more than one occasion that man has given her advice on her private life. The woman swears she has never met the man in her life.
That portrait lies forgotten on the psychiatrist’s desk for a few days until one day another patient recognizes that face and says that the man has often visited him in his dreams. He also claims he has never seen that man in his waking life.
The psychiatrist decides to send the portrait to some of his colleagues that have patients with recurrent dreams. Within a few months, four patients recognize the man as a frequent presence in their own dreams. All the patients refer to him as THIS MAN.
From January 2006 until today, at least 2000 people have claimed they have seen this man in their dreams, in many cities all over the world: Los Angeles, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Tehran, Beijing, Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, New Dehli, Moskow etc.
At the moment there is no ascertained relation or common trait among the people that have dreamed of seeing this man. Moreover, no living man has ever been recognized as resembling the man of the portrait by the people who have seen this man in their dreams.
The aim of this website is:
- to help those who have seen this man in their dreams and to foster communication among them;
- to understand who this man is and why he appears in an apparently pattern-less array of situations in the dreams of such diverse human subjects.
UK police use anti-terrorist legislation to stop climate change activist travelling
Want to go to Copenhagen to protest at the UN summit? The Orwellian state marches ahead in the UK.
From the Guardian website.
UK border police used anti-terrorist legislation to prevent a British climate change activist from crossing over into mainland Europe where he planned to take part in events surrounding the forthcoming United Nations summit in Denmark.
Chris Kitchen, a 31-year-old office worker, said he feared his treatment by police could mark the start of a clampdown on protesters, hundreds of whom are planning to travel to Copenhagen for the climate change talks in December.
Medical director injects placental stem cells!
A Colorado medical director describes having placental tissue transplanted into his lower abdomen in Mexico for its rejuvenating growth factors, hormones, and especially placental stem cells, “which have powerful ‘homing’ mechanisms which enable them to hone in on areas of the body that are in need of repair.”
“Placental stem cells are, in effect, the nanobots of today,” says Terry Grossman. “Many parents today save the umbilical cord blood from their newborns so that the stem cells will be available to the child (and possibly other family members as well) if needed in the future….”
“Aside from being available in the event the child develops leukemia and needs chemotherapy along with a stem cell transplant, the value of umbilical cord stem cells lies in the future as well… Umbilical cord stem cells are being used to treat many conditions in hospitals in China and elsewhere today!”
(This article originally appeared in the fall edition…
Sean Hannity Says: “The Debate’s Over. There’s No Global Warming.”
Daniel Kessler, Senior Press Officer for Greenpeace, writes for Treehugger:
Have you heard the good news? There is no global warming. Sean Hannity said so. On his Fox News show last night, Hannity covered a confrontation between a journalist and Al Gore at the Society of Environmental Journalist conference in Madison, WI. The journalist went after Gore over inconsistencies in his film “An Inconvenient Truth.” Never shy, Hannity, let loose with, “The debate’s over. There’s no global warming.”
A Britain High Court judge issued an opinion that Gore’s movie about global warming should come with a warning that it features “partisan political views” and numerous serious errors.
The case was brought by a British truck driver, Stewart Dimmock, who said the British government was “brainwashing” children by mandating that Gore’s movie be shown in schools.
Hannity’s pronouncement goes against the findings of almost every prominent climate scientist. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that global warning…
“Rush Limbaugh Is A Racist” Petition
Our friends at Brave New Films don’t mince words:
Professional sports has always served to unite Americans across class, creed and race. Now Rush Limbaugh, whose career is driven by dividing Americans precisely along those lines, wants to buy an NFL football team.
Limbaugh is a racist and a chauvinist. His values are diametrically opposed to the traditions the NFL stands for. Limbaugh will poison professional football as he has poisoned the culture of American political discourse.
We stand with former and current NFL players in urging the league to reject Limbaugh’s ownership bid. Sports fans deserve better.
You can sign their petition here, and check out the video they made:
Obama and the Swastika
If there was any doubt that the bloom is off the rose for U.S. President Barack Obama, this picture from a Massachussetts golf course confirms that the honeymoon is over:
As reported by News 7 Boston, however, the idiots who did this managed to carve the swastika the wrong way round if they intended it to be a reference to Hitler’s Nazi symbol!
LAKEVILLE, Mass — Police along with the Secret Service are investigating after a local country club discovered a symbol that represents eastern religious beliefs carved into the green.
Lakeville Country Club workers discovered the vandalism early Monday morning.
Police believe the vandals meant to carve a swastika next to President Barack Obama’s name on the 18th hole; however, the symbol was backwards and means hope and peace in some Eastern countries.
Cow in Argentina Abducted by UFO: The Analysis
Finally! The good folks at Inexplicata: The Journal of Hispanic Ufology decided to break this down for us. Enjoy. Silvia Pérez Simondini writes:
“There Can Be No Better Proof”
Many years ago, ever since 2002, VISION OVNI was expecting evidence such as this, simply because it is one of the most analyzed hypotheses that our team has worked with, since no traces of blood are ever found next to the mutilated animals, certainly indicating that animals were not being mutilated on site. Rather, they were being removed to another location, and evidently, no black helicopters were involved — only UFOs, unidentified flying object.
At this point in time I would like to know what happened to the red-muzzled mouse, what became of the famous Chupacabras, the yellow jacket, and the other explanations put forth by officialdom to dodge the subject of mutilations.
Personally speaking, I am more than pleased, as the number of animals seen by our team over the years deserved knowing that at least someone tried to find an answer to their deaths. And these answers came from a phenomenon we never dismissed out of hand, but rather, we always knew was the result of unknown hands, regardless of their origin.
Read the Greatest Unproduced Screenplays of 2008 for Free
Graeme McMillan of io9.com writes:
Every year, movie insiders produce The Black List: the best unproduced screenplays doing the rounds that year.
Thanks to the wonders of the internet, all of those screenplays are now online to read.
Go and enjoy.
I Can Sleep Now. The ‘Space Clown’ Has Returned to Earth
Clowns are plain freaky in any context. At least this one can no longer terrify children across the globe traveling at 17,500 mph. AFP reports:
The first clown in space, Canadian circus tycoon Guy Laliberte, arrived safely back on earth Sunday touching down in a Russian Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan, the Russian mission control centre said.
The capsule, also carrying Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and US astronaut Michael Barratt, landed in Kazakhstan’s steppe at 0431 GMT after travelling from the International Space Station (ISS).
“Everything took place normally and on time,” said Vitaly Lopota, head of Energia, the state-owned company which designs the Soyuz, in remarks broadcast on Vesti-24 television. “The crew is feeling excellent,” he added.
Television pictures showed the capsule with its orange and white parachute touching down in the sprawling Kazakh steppe and teams of space agency workers carrying out the space travellers.
Laliberte wore his trademark red clown nose as he was…
Paul Krassner On Obscenity
Paul doing what he does best:
Mr. Krassner assesses the ongoing conflict between the governmental power that be and cultural opponents. The comic, journalist and author looks at how obscenity is defined, by whom and why. He also examines why drugs laws are what they are and why so many are incarcerated for what he believes are victimless crimes.
Link to Paul Krassner reading at Skylight books in LA, September 15, 2009 (Video)
Jon Ronson’s ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats’ Now A Film
I can’t believe they turned this book into a film. Looking forward to it. (Official Site)
CNN, a.k.a. the “Cable News Network,” Reports the News By “Leaving It There”
The Cable News Network, a.k.a. CNN, decides to fact check Saturday Night Live but not much else, with the 24 hours a day they have to report news. After this point is driven home in the clip below, watch the analysis from The Daily Show regulars Aasif Mandvi, who thinks CNN is the most professional news outlet, and John Oliver, who calls CNN out as a consortium that only wants to seduce goats:
Bat Boy Sells Out to Hollywood
If it wasn’t already apparent that what was underground or alternative is now coopted by the mainstream entertainment media at the first glimmer of a sizeable audience (a network giving disinformation a TV series for instance…), now the top Hollywood agency has signed up Weekly World News, according to the Hollywood Reporter:
Move over, Astro Boy and Iron Man — Bat Boy could be stepping up to the plate soon.
The half-bat, half-human character is just one of 30-odd wacky creations spawned by the erstwhile supermarket tabloid Weekly World News and now up for grabs in Hollywood.
CAA has signed WWN to a representation deal, and DreamWorks is developing a TV show that likely will be the first to tap into the company’s library of characters and its tens of thousands of offbeat stories.
Founded in 1979, the tongue-in-cheek tabloid made its mark with stories about conspiracies, cover-ups, aliens, Bigfoot, Elvis sightings and supernatural phenomena.…
Dollar Devaluation and the Working Class
From the World Socialist Web Site
There are growing signs of a major shift in world currency alignments. Since March, the US dollar has steadily declined, depreciating by 13.3 percent on a trade-weighted basis. Last week the decline accelerated, driving gold prices to record levels and prompting a number of Asian central banks to intervene on currency markets to slow the dollar’s fall.
Rather than warning of the implications of this erosion in the value of the world’s major trading and reserve currency, prominent financial publications and economic commentators are arguing that the trend should be welcomed and the long-term value of the dollar should be allowed to fall further.
Tamiflu In Rivers Could Breed Drug-Resistant Super-Flu Strain
Wired writes about a frightening discovery made by Japanese scientists: rivers around the world are being contaminated with Tamiflu, the premier flu-fighting medicine, as users excrete it in their urine.
What’s the big deal? Birds, who are carriers of influenza, are being exposed to the waterborne Tamiflu residues and might develop and spread drug-resistant trains of seasonal and avian flu.
If scientists’ measurements are right, concentrations of Tamiflu in natural bodies of water are now “high enough to lead to antiviral resistance in waterfowl.” And, Tamiflu contamination will only rise in the coming winter months, as seasonal and swine flu hit the population.
Will Tamiflu sow the seeds of the next great pandemic?
Baby Denied Health Insurance Due To Weight
Writes the Denver Post:
Alex Lange is a chubby, dimpled, healthy and happy 4-month-old.
But in the cold, calculating numbered charts of insurance companies, he is fat. That’s why he is being turned down for health insurance. And that’s why he is a weighty symbol of a problem in the health care reform debate. Alex’s pre-existing condition — “obesity” — makes him a financial risk.
“I could understand if we could control what he’s eating. But he’s 4 months old. He’s breast-feeding. We can’t put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill,” joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. “There is just something absurd about denying an infant.”
Airport Trials Naked-image Security Scans
Reported here on the Guardian website:
Passengers can refuse to undergo virtual strip by full-body x-ray scanner that leaves little to the imagination of security staff.
Originally, passengers had to remove their jackets when passing through airport security. Then it was belts, and soon shoes had to come off too. But those who feared that losing one’s trousers was the next logical step will find scant comfort in the news that an x-ray machine that produces “naked” images of passengers will be introduced at a British international airport today.
Read More.
